Across the Sinnoh Region
by The Drum Major
Summary: Join our heros(Charlie, Sara, Nicholas, Arilla, and Robert) as they make their way across the Sinnoh Region on their Pokemon journey with each other. They will met some famous figures, do Gym Battles, Contests, and run into some Rangers and Champions. Though they must beware, something dark is on the prowl.
1. Prolog : Leaving Home

PROLOG | LEAVING HOME

It was a pleasant early summer morning in Twinleaf Town of the Sinnoh Region. Our new heros are just about to start their adventure, and what an adventure it will be! The five heros consist of the fourteen year old Charlie, two fifteen year olds Sara and Nicholas, the sixteen year old Robert, and lastly seventeen year old Arilla. Today is the day that the five of them will be setting out from their beloved home town and make their way into the Pokemon world. But before our heros can begin, you should know a little more about them. First off, Nicholas and Arilla are cousins. Secondly, Arilla is from the Unova Region. Thirdly, Sara, Nicholas, and Robert are childhood friends. Fourth, Nicholas and Sara are both trainers. Fifth, Arilla and Sara are both Co-Ordinators. Sixth, Arilla is a Breeder too. Seventh, Robert is a Pokemon Explorer, which means that he loves adventures and trying new things and venturing out into the unknown, and obviously he enjoys this all with his Pokemon. Eight, you can carry up to ten Pokemon in your party. Nine, Charlie's home town in Sandgem Town and will meet the other four heros shortly into the story. Ten, Pokemon can learn move than four moves, they can know ten at one time. Though new young Pokemon start off with five or six. Finally, Pokemon from all regions have migrated to other regions so now you can find all regular Pokemon in any region. Except for starters and legendaries of course.

There are new ways of capturing Pokemon. There is the traditional battling to lower it's HP and there are some new ways. One of them is called befriending the wild Pokemon. It's title is pretty much explaining itself. The hero must simply act kindly towards the wild Pokemon and maybe offer it a treat or kind words. The wild Pokemon if had been persuaded to join the hero's team would then willingly go into a Pokeball and be caught instantly. There is no battling involved in this tactic. Another way of capturing a Pokemon is an uncommon one. This one does not have an official name yet, but it too is pretty basic. Most refer to it as sudden capture. It is when a hero is just strolling along and out pops a wild Pokemon, this Pokemon would make it known to the hero that they would like to join their team. The wild Pokemon has been watching and following the hero for a day or two and likes what they see. The hero would most likely offer it a vacant Pokeball and in goes the wild Pokemon and then it would be caught. Another method of capture is called forced capture. Most heros do not use this method because it requires a great deal of arm and hand strength. This tactic works by first finding a wild Pokemon and having a Pokeball touch it so that it goes inside, and almost always the Pokemon will try and escape it and here is where the forced capture happens. The hero would hold the Pokeball such preventing the inside wild Pokemon to break free of the ball. This means that the hero would have to hold the Pokeball clamped down and shut tight until it vibrates three times and the traditional sparks and stars shoot out of it. A hero can have their strongest Pokemon (like a Machop) hold down on the Pokeball so that they would not have to. Another one that is not really looked highly on is a disabled capture. It's where some kind of disability has been inflicted on the Pokemon. Whether it's a hero knocking a Pokemon into unconsciousness by physically hitting them or if the Pokemon has fallen under a specific status condition(love, sleep, frozen, confused,). The hero would then send them into a Pokeball and the Pokemon would be captured.

That very same day the eldest four of them had received their Pokemon from the professor, now that six Pokemon regions(Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, and Kalos) have been discovered you are able to start off with three Pokemon from the professor. No more of just picking one. Also, you can choose any three from any region! Your options are not just limited to one single region. Our heros greatly appreciated this new change when selecting their starter Pokemon. Sara choose a male Torchic, a male Froakie, and a female Treecko. Nicholas choose a male Charmander, a male Totodile, and a male Turtwig. Arilla choose a female Fennikin, a female Oshamott, and a female Snivy. (Sadly her Unova Pokemon could not come with her to the Sinnoh Region.) Robert choose a male Chimchar, a female Squirtle, and a female Chespin.

Currently our four heros are just leaving Twinleaf Town and heading for Lake Verity. Sara's mom is giving them all one final hug while Robert's mom is making one last check that they have all their things. Nicholas's mom(Arilla's aunt) is giving them all safety tips and reminding them that they can always return home if they need something. When all seven of them had said their farewells and good wishes the four teenagers were off. They each had one Pokemon walking out of their ball, Sara's Froakie, Nicholas's Charmander, Arilla's Fennikin, and Robert's Chespin. And this my deeply beloved reader is where our hero's story begins.


	2. Chapter 1 : The Adventure Begins

CHAPTER 1 | THE ADVENTURE BEGINS

Sara breathed in deeply, the air smelled fresher and everything had a new light to it. To Sara, it seemed as if she was seeing the world in a whole new way. Her long wavy blonde hair flowed in a gentle breeze. Again it brought the fresh scent to Sara's nose. She exhaled and let the wind carry it away. The rattling of the leaves in the trees was music to her hears. She was finally on her journey. At long last it had come. She was overjoyed to be sharing it with the others. Sara's light grey running shoes were treading lightly over the short grass. Her Froakie was hopping along happily beside her. Sara was wearing a pair of dark blue capris and a cream colored razor back tank top with thin yellow, red, and orange stripes.

Sara had her backpack slung over both her shoulders, her backpack was a sky blue color and had lots of places to store things. She found this to be quite handy for her journey as there were many things that needed to be carried. Such as, money, clothes, Gym Badge Case, Ribbon Case, food, map of Sinnoh, PokeDex, Trainer ID Card, First-Aid kit, sunglasses, sleeping bag, sweatshirts, and other things similar.

Sara and her friends walked along route 201 as they headed West for the lake. She wanted to catch some more Pokemon, the thrill of the adventure was starting to consume her. She looked to her right see see Arilla looking around at all the different plants, Sara remembered that she was from the Unova Region, and how different this must be. On Sara's left was Nicholas walking along talking with Robert about their plans for dinner. Though Sara knew very well that Arilla would be the one who ended up making it. She had known Nicholas and Robert long enough to know that they could not cook to save their lives. Sara was okay at cooking, she could make some basic things. But she remembered that Arilla was an excellent chef, she had recalled that from when Arilla had visited before over the last fifteen years. It hadn't been too often, probably once every three years, Unova was far away. Sara was trying to work up the nerve to ask Arilla for help making poffins, for her Pokemon when Contests came around. Sara knew they took a long time to perfect and she wanted to start right away. Her thoughts about Contests was interrupted when a wild Pokemon jumped out from the shelter of the trees.

It was only a Shinx(female), but it charged right at Sara's Froakie and barreled into it. Her Froakie immediately pushed it off and started speaking angrily at it. The Shinx raised it's tail high in the air and lowered it's head. Froakie lightly pushed it away but the Shinx shimmed right up next to it, walking all around Froakie. Sara smiled seeing the two of them together. The others had stopped walking as well and watched the two Pokemon. Sara could tell that the Shinx wasn't going to harm Froakie and was just being affectionate. Froakie than got the idea of playing and bounced over the Shinx's back and smiled wide. The two continued playing and then Sara pulled out an empty Pokeball.

"Hey there Shinx, do you wanna come along with Froakie and the rest of us? We are on our journey. It'll be really fun!" Sara said to the wild Pokemon. The Shinx looked at Froakie and then at Sara, and then back to Froakie one last time. Shinx jumped up and down really excitedly and small sparks shot out of it's paws. Then it started saying it's name over and over and it sounded pretty energetic. Sara took that as a yes and tapped one of her five empty Pokeballs on Shinx's head. The wild Pokemon zoomed inside the Pokeball and it fell to the ground and vibrated instantly three times. Sara felt so accomplished, she had just caught her first Pokemon! With no help form anyone else she had done it!

"Congratulations, Sara." Arilla said with a curt nod of approval.

"Nice job." Nicholas said, he gave her a high five and smiled. Nicholas's Charmander also gave a nice praise to Froakie.

"Wow, now the rest of us just need to catch one and we will be even." Robert said, he was very keen on keeping everything even and in balance.

"I'm just glad that it likes Froakie so much that it will come along with us. Hey, how much farther until the lake?" Sara asked. She knew this route was a small hardly time consuming as some of the other routes. Not that she was tired or anything, but it was getting hot outside and the lake was sounding more refreshing by the minute. Also, Sara was super eager to have Shinx met her other two Pokemon.

"Not far, I think another ten maybe fifteen minutes at the most." Robert replied. He was their go to person for their location and what directions to take. His Chespin seemed to be enjoying herself in the sunny weather.

Sara and the others walked along the trail that would lead them to Verity Lake. Sara had been there a few times when she was younger, it had been when Nicholas's eldest sister, Tori, had taken them during the hottest parts of summer. She had been willing since the weather was so warm and she had Pokemon too. You weren't allowed to leave your town unless you had Pokemon with you. Sara remembered those days, though they were long ago. She thought fondly of them, it had been sad when Tori had left to go live in Sunnyshore City, but now they would get to see her on their journey.

During her thoughts they had arrived at the start of the forest trail that would lead them to the Lake. This trail was very short and was just under five minutes at a walking pace. But Sara did not plan on walking.

"Last one there is a Slowpoke!" Sara shouted and picked up Froakie and sprinted onto the path.

"What?!" Arilla called in a shocked way. She was carrying the food, and Sara realized that she probably didn't want it getting all jumbled around.

"See ya there!" Nicholas hollered and ran after Sara, his Charmander toddling behind him.

"It's not gonna be me!" Robert called after them and ran to catch up. He quickly sent his Chespin back into her Pokeball.

"Guys! Really? Come on, please, stop running!" Arilla yelled. She had picked up her pace and was at a slow run, trying not to shake her backpack much. Her Fennikin easily sped past her but did not go too far ahead like the others.

In no time at all Sara arrived first at the lake, it was a glorious sight to behold. The afternoon rays of the sun were shinning down on the lake and made it sparkle. The waves on the lake were shimmering and created a dazzling sight. A few of the residential Pokemon heard the thundering of steps and ran away into the undergrowth and bushes to avoid being seen.

"Everybody come on out!" Sara cried as she threw her three Pokeballs into the air. Out came her Torchic, Treeko, and the recently caught Shinx. She set her Froakie down and the four of them greeted each other and started to play.

"Enjoy the sun too!" Nicholas called from behind her and let out his other two Pokemon. His Charmander came up the path after Nicholas and looked a little flustered. Out of Nicholas's Pokeballs came his Totodile and Turtwig. Totodile scanned the area and once his eyes found the water he headed straight for it and jumped in and began to swim around. While his Turtwig mingled with Sara's Pokemon and his Charmander flopped on the ground and was sunning himself and catching his breath.

A few seconds later Robert emerged from the trees, his Pokeballs already ad released their Pokemon. His Chespin joined the large cluster of playing Pokemon while his Squirtle followed Nicholas's Totodile into the lake. His Chimchar walked over and sat down next to Charmander.

Froakie heard the sounds of the other water type Pokemon splashing around in the lake and ran over to the shore and dived head first into the water. The other Pokemon continued to play with each other. Several minutes later Arilla arrived looking irritated. Sara felt bad a little, they had kind of left her. But Sara's excitement could not be contained anymore she just had to reach the lake. This was where they would be making camp for the night and it would be her first night away from home. She so ridiculously excited about it, and her journey almost hadn't happened. Her mother had almost too concerned about with the rumors about a group of people called Team something. Rumor has it is that if you come across them you, you'll wish you hadn't, some of the things Sara's mom had heard was that they would steal your Pokemon and do awful experiments on them. But thankfully Robert and Nicholas's mothers had been able to convince her mom to let Sara go on her adventure.

"Well thanks for nothing." Arilla spat at them when she shrugged her luggage off. Sara watched her pull out two Pokeballs and put came her Snivy and Oshawott. They first greeted Fennikin then all three of Arilla's Pokemon calmly walked over to the large gathered group of Pokemon and interacted with them. Sara watched her own Pokemon(Shinx, Torchic, and Treeko) mingle and make friends with everyone else. She turned her head to see Robert sitting down leaning against a tree trunk with his legs out stretched. Sara looked in the opposite direction and saw that Nicholas was soaking his feet in the lake, he had rolled up his pants and removed his socks and shoes. Sara walked over to Arilla and set all of her stuff down. Then she started removing her clothing. Underneath her shirt and jeans she was wearing her yellow bikini. She knew the weather would at least be warm enough for a swim. She kicked off her shoes and headed over to the water. Nicholas was still soaking his feet and Sara was going to push him in.

"Hey, you don't have anything valuable on you right?" She asked standing behind him.

"No, why?" Nicholas asked not looking at her. And then Sara gave him a shove and he splashed into the lake. He had let out a cry of alarm but it was drowned out by the water.

Sara let out a lively mischievous laugh. Nicholas resurfaced and had an angry look on his face. But when his eyes met Sara's his gaze softened and he laughed too.

"Now you need to come in!" Nicholas said and he sprung up quickly and grabbed Sara's hand and pulled her in. Sara gladly accepted his offer and fell into the lake willingly. She was instantly submerged in the coolness of the water. It felt good against her tanned skin. She had not put her air up and now it was floating around in the water aimlessly. Froakie swam up to Sara and he had a happy grin on his face. Sara waved at him and it made the water type Pokemon ecstatic with glee.

Froakie took a hold of Sara's hand and guided her through the water. Sara had to admit, it sure was much easier than swimming herself. She saw Totodile and Squirtle swimming through the water too, they seemed to have started a game of tag. Everything was amazing down under the lake's surface. A flicker of movement down below caught Sara's eyes. She tugged on Froakie's arm and he looked down to where she had pointed. But then Sara ran out of breath. She started to feel light headed and quickly kicked her feet propelling her to the surface. She shot out of the water and took a deep breath in. A splash behind her made Sara turned around in the water. She was still treading water when Nicholas's head popped up, he had changed out of his soaking wet clothes and was wearing his swim trunks.

"There's something beneath us, wanna check it out?" She asked him.

"Yeah, duh. Let's go Totodile. Squirtle you can come too." Nicholas replied. The other two water type Pokemon had resurface as well.

Sara took one last giant breath of air before diving under. Froakie helped guide her down deeper into the water. Sara could see Totodile and Nicholas swimming a few feet over from her with Squirtle in the middle. They went down a few more feet before they had a good view of what it was. Sara saw a school of Finneon and Lumineon swimming around. The light of the sun that had managed to make it's way all the way down here was reflecting off of the Pokemon. Sara also noticed that there were groups of Tympole and Alomomola swimming around too.

When the five of them had seen enough of the residential water type Pokemon they swam back up to the surface. Sara gasped again and took a few huge breaths before she regained her normal breathing. Nicholas coughed a few times before his breathing was back to normal. Froakie swam up in front of Sara and squirted some water at her face. Sara went to put her hands up to block the liquid but she didn't move fast enough and it nailed her in the face. Froakie laughed uncontrollably and seemed to be enjoying himself. She heard Nicholas chuckle and smacked her hand down on the water in his direction. Her free hand was wiping the water from her eyes. She knew her mini wave had hit when she her Nicholas make a surprised noise. Sara opened her eyes to see his blond hair was plastered against his head dripping wet. His brilliant forest green eyes opened and he had a mischievous gleam in them. Sara had a quick stab of an 'oh no' feeling, she knew this feeling well enough to know Nicholas was about to get payback.

"Totodile! Water gun!" Nicholas shouted. His Pokemon obeyed and opened his mouth wide and let out a spray of water at Sara. She just barely had time to turn her head so it only hit her back and shoulders.

"Nicholas Tulane! I challenged you to a Pokemon battle!" Sara cried after Totodile's water gun had gone away.

"And Sara Adkins, I accept your challenge. Prepare to lose." Nicholas said. They both began to swim for shore and climbed out of the lake.

Sara picked up her pace and grabbed a towel that Arilla had set out for them. She dried off her face, arms, and legs. Sara grabbed a hair tie out of her backpack and pulled her dripping wet hair into a bun. She turned to her Pokemon who had heard he declaration of a battle and had come over to her. The four of them were sitting down behind her waiting for her command.

"Three on three?" Nicholas asked a little ways behind Sara.

"Sure." She replied. Sara looked over her shoulder to see that his first Pokemon would be his Turtwig. That automatically meant she would start with her fire type, Torchic. Sara turned to face her four Pokemon. They sat from left to right, Torchic, Treecko, Froakie, and Shinx. She knew that Nicholas's only three Pokemon were Totodile, Chamander, and Turtwig. Sara didn't want to use her Treecko, she was the runt of her Pokemon. But she had plans to train the grass type up. But this battle with Nicholas was not the time for it. Sara had a plan in her mind, for Turtwig she would use Torchic, for Chamander she would use Froakie, and for Totodile she would use Shinx. "You're up Torchic. " She said. The little fire type fluttered his small feather and raced over to where Nicholas and Turtwig were standing.

"I'll ref this battle." Robert said standing up and walked over.

Sara walked over calmly to their designated battle field and reminded herself of Torchic's known moves. Ember, scratch, dig, protect, and low kick were his known moves.

"This three on three Pokemon battle between Sara and Nicholas will now be underway. The battle will end when one side is no longer able to continue. Since Sara is the challenger, Nicholas will have the first move." Robert explained. "Begin!"

"Alight! Turtwig use tackle!"

"Torchic use dig!"

Torchic hid underground as Turtwig came running over and the grass type missed. Turtwig looked around wildly trying to figure out where Torchic would pop up. Sara noticed a spot a little ways behind Turtwig start to shake.

"Watch out Turtwig, behind you!" Nicholas called. The poor Turtwig turned around to have Torchic use dig and shoot out from the ground and sailed right into Turtwig. The two collided and Torchic leaped backwards.

"Razor leaf!"

Five sharp leaves flew straight for the fire type. "Use protect!" Sara called. Torchic was only able to produce a small shield and so three leaves hit their target. "Use scratch Torchic!"

"Tackle again!"

The two Pokemon ran for each other and their two attacks met the other head on and set them both flailing backwards.

"Low kick!" Sara yelled.

"Dodge it!" Nicholas hollered. But Torchic was faster and plowed into the grass type. Turtwig was now breathing heavily.

"Toxic!" Nicholas called. A large purple circle appeared under Torchic and the poison seeped into it's body. Now both Pokemon were breathing hard.

"Torchic use scratch and then ember!" Sara said.

"Counter with tackle!" Nicholas called.

Both Pokemon sprang at each other and Torchic being the fast of the two landed it's first attack before Turtwig. Torchic then proceeded with ember and nailed it right onto Turtwig's chest. The fire type then turned around and slowly ran back a safe distance. But then the poison took it's turn and added more damage to Torchic. Sara looked at the grass type, it was under ground level, because Torchic had smashed it into the ground and left a slight indent.

"Turtwig is unable to battle, Torchic is the winner!" Robert declared.

"You were great Torchic, get some rest." Sara said.

"Well, you'll get them next time. Take a nice break." Nicholas said.

"Here, I can take your wounded Pokemon." Arilla said, she had walked over to watch their battle.

"In my bag there are some Pokemon medical items that will be useful." Robert said to her. Arilla nodded and picked up Turtwig and then Torchic. She carried the two over to where she had previously been sitting and set them down next to the tree's trunk. She than walked over to Robert's back and rummaged through it before finding the medical items.

"Let's win this next one Totodile!" Nicholas said as his water type charged into battle.

"This is your turn Shinx, make it a second win." Sara instructed.

"Sara will have first move." Robert said.

"Shinx use quick attack!" Sara commanded. Her Shinx burst into action and charged right into the Totodile. Shinx then proceed to jump backwards to avoid any incoming attacks.

"Totodile use water gun!"

"Counter with swift!"

Once again Totodile opened his mouth wide and let out a spray of water, but at the same time Shinx waved it's tail and shot out multiple stars. The two attacks hit head on and gave off a shimmering blue glitter. Sara would have to remember that for contests.

"Shinx use tackle!"

"Dodge it with double team Totodile!"

Just like that six other Totodiles appeared making the grand total to be seven. Shinx stopped it's attack because she didn't know which was the real Totodile.

"Now use water gun!"

"Let out a furry of swifts!"

All seven Totodiles had circled around the electric type Pokemon and now were each using water gun. But Shinx spun around in circles shooting swift in every direction. When a star hit a fake Pokemon it disappeared, and several stars hit the real Totodile.

"Now Shinx, use thunder fang!"

"Use bite Totodile!"

The two Pokemon crashed into each other with their jaws locked on the other. But Totodile's bite was stronger and bit down on Shinx. Totodile clamped it's mouth shut which caused Shinx to squirm and try to break free but Totodile was known for it's incredibly steady jaw.

"Break free with spark!"

All of Shinx's body became enveloped in a yelled electrical light which shocked Totodile and caused it to release Shinx from it's mouth. Totodile was blasted off of Shinx and was damaged greatly from the type disadvantage it had against electric attacks.

"Totodile use scratch!"

Shinx use quick attack!"

Naturally Shinx stuck first and added more damage to the water type. "Use bite!" Nicholas cried. Shinx was close enough that she couldn't escape from Totodile's jaws. And yet again she was trapped in his mighty bite. "Unleash a scratch fury!" Nicholas called.

"Shinx break free with thunder fang and spark!"

Both Pokemon used their attacks and they disappeared from sight because of all the dust and smoke their attacks were stirring up. When the air cleared both Pokemon had fainted.

"Both Shinx and Totodile are unable to battle, this is a draw."

"You did really well Shinx, I am proud of you. Now get some rest." Sara said and carried her Shinx over to Arilla who had prepared for both newly fainted Pokemon. Sara didn't hear what Nicholas said to his Totodile but he too carried the fainted Pokemon over to Arilla. Sara looked down and saw that her Torchic was resting peacefully and was healing well after his first battle.

"Let's go Charmander. Don't fail me now." Nicholas said as he walked back over to the battle field. His Charmander strut onto the field and smirked.

"Froakie. You know what to do." Sara said, her Froakie hopped onto the field.

"Nicholas will have first move." Robert said.

"NOW Charmander use scratch!"

"Froakie use toxic spikes!"

Charmander ran for Froakie with his right arm's claws glowing white with the attack. He raced for Froakie was but stopped in his tracks because Froakie launched the toxic spikes into the ground. The poison seeped into Charmander and he winced and put his paws on the ground to steady himself. Charmander then became poisoned and would suffer from that status condition.

"Charmander use dig." The wounded Charmander dug down into the earth and did not reappear.

"Froakie, wait for the poison to effect it again, you'll hear him cry out in pain. Then when Charmander reappears use double team." Sara instructed. Froakie nodded and listened for the poisoned Pokemon. Sure enough, a few seconds later the poison took another toll on Charmander. His cry came from a few yards to the left of Froakie.

The ground started to shake where Charmander was going to pop out from and Froakie turned to face it. Just before Charmander shot out from the earth Froakie used double team and eight other Froakies appeared and encircled the Charmander.

"Now Froakie use bubble!"

All nine Froakies started shooting their bubble attack at the trapped Charmander. He flung his arms up to try and soften the blow but it did no good. When the bubble attack was over the fake Froakies started disappearing leaving the original Froakie. Charmander again took another poison attack and was almost defeated.

"Froakie use quick attack!"

"Use protect Charmander!" Charmander whipped up a shield and it only partially blocked out the quick attack. "Now use bite!" Charmander leaped at Froakie and bit down hard on his arm. Froakie cried out in pain.

"Froakie use bubble!"

Froakie opened his mouth wide and let out a bubble attack. It blasted Charmander in the side of the head and he let go and fell over backwards onto the ground. Froakie hopped backwards a few paces and waited to see if it would get back up.

"Charmander is unable to battle. Which means Sara is the winner!" Robert called.

Sara ran to embrace Froakie and he leaped into her arms. Sara's Treecko ran up beside her and praised Froakie for doing so well. Sara picked the two of them up and rushed over to where Torchic and Shinx were resting. Her Shinx opened her eyes and smiled when hear the victorious news. Torchic gave off a little happy peep and then went back to sleep. Then Sara noticed a Pachirisu sitting next to Arilla. Sara knew that the Pokemon was either wild or a newly caught member of Arilla's team.

"Is the Pachirisu yours?" Sara asked Arilla.

"Yeah, I befriended it while you and Nicholas were battling." She answered.

"Oh, thanks for healing my Pokemon." Sara said to her.

"No problem. They both will be up and running around back to normal in no time." Arilla responded. "Hey, you are going to do some Contests right?" Sara nodded. "Good. The next Contest will be held in Jubilife City you should enter it with me." Arilla said.

"That'd be great. I can't wait." Sara said. Now she needed to change out of her swimsuit. She was dry now and grabbed her backpack filled with some clothes of hers to change into. Sara walked a little ways into the trees and dressed behind a large thick tree trunk. She had dressed herself in the same outfit she was wearing before, dark blue capris and a cream colored razor back tank top with thin yellow, red, and orange stripes. Sara was sitting down leaning against the tree lacing up her light grey running shoes when a blur of fur raced by her. The creature had snatched up Sara's left foot shoe and was running around with it. Sara recognized the creature to be an Eevee. The little Pokemon was shaking her shoe madly in it's mouth.

"Hey there Eevee, can I have my shoe back?" Sara asked it. Eevee looked up at her and then ran around some more chewing on her shoe. "Please?" A no was given but the Eevee shaking it again. "Fine. TREECKO! I NEED YOU!" Sara shouted. Barely a few seconds went by before the little green Pokemon appeared beside Sara. "Alright Treecko, this will be your first battle. Let's do this." Sara said. Treecko cheered and clenched her fists.

"Treecko use quick attack!" Sara called. Treecko sprinted for the Eevee, she bounded over bushes and undergrowth before smashing into her target. The Eevee then used swift and four stars crashed into Treecko.

"Bullet seed!"

Treecko opened her mouth and multiple groups of seeds shot out of it and pelted the Eevee. The Eevee took the attack and cringed then it used quick attack and ran right into Treecko. Treecko stood up a little shaky but remained in battle. The Eevee was still holding Sara's shoe in it's mouth. The Eevee then dropped the shoe and let out a small shadow ball. It spiraled right for Treecko but she easily dodged it.

"Quick attack Treecko, then use pond!"

Treecko dropped to all four and ran again for the Eevee. The two of them hit head on and then Treecko made a fist and beat down on Eevee. The Eevee flopped onto the ground and Sara quickly threw a Pokeball. The Eevee went inside of the capturing device and slowly but surely the Pokeball vibrated three times and then stars and sparks shot out of it.

"Yes! Treecko we did it! You were amazing!" Sara exclaimed. She flung her arms around the little grass type and gave it a huge hug. Treecko's cheeks flushed and she cocked her head in a smile. Sara then rushed over and tied her stolen shoe on her foot and picked up Eevee's Pokeball, it was a female. "Lets go show you to the others." Sara said. She walked back with Treecko to the others beside the lake.


	3. Chapter 2 : The First Night

CHAPTER 2 | THE FIRST NIGHT

Arilla had spent the majority of the day just sitting and lounging around. In the early morning she had woke up way before her aunt and Nicholas. She had taken that opportunity to go outside and practice some Contest moves with her Pokemon. Unlike other Pokemon, Arilla's were not rowdy. That was one of the reasons why she had pick those three as her starters. They were calm, collected, and poised. So, naturally while they were training they were very quiet and didn't create unneeded nosies. Her Snivy had the most grace out of the three, Oshawott had the most personality and visual joy, and Fennikin had the most beauty.

Now she was sitting underneath a tree leaning against it's trunk. Her original three Pokemon were socializing with the newly added Pachirisu. The four of them were basking in a patch of sunlight that had filtered down through gaps in the tree's leaves. Arilla knew that Pachirisu didn't evolve and would stay the same forever. But her other three would eventually evolve. Arilla had done some research on starters evolved forms before she came to the Sinnoh Region. She liked Fennikin's two future evolutions and planned to fully evolve her someday. Arilla also liked Snivy's two future evolutions and would also fully evolve her. But, with Oshawott, Arilla didn't like her third/final form. It did not fit the Contest idea of what the visual Pokemon should look like. So Oshawott would only evolve into her second form, no further.

The sun was on it's way down streaking the sky with brilliant colors. Painted across the sky was vibrant areas of colors. There was some soft pinks, lush purples, a few light traces of blue, some fiery reds, bright yellows, and powerful oranges. It was a wonder sight to see and Arilla smiled when she looked at it.

Since the sun was setting that meant dinner was needed to be made. Arilla was the cook of their little group and was happy to do so. She had planned the first week of meals so that she wouldn't have to come up with things on the spot. Tonight they would be having a barbecue. Her aunt had sent her off with multiple slices of meat for their journey. Arilla had a grill sheet that she would set over the fire. But first a fire had to be made.

"Snivy and Pachirisu, you to go into the forest a little and pick up some sticks and stones for the fire pit. I'll send Robert with you two so he can pick up bigger logs." Arilla began. She turned her head to face Robert and called out to him. "Hey Robert, go into the woods with Snivy and Pachirisu and gather some firewood for dinner." He nodded and walked over to them and wandered into the trees with the Pokemon.

"Now you Oshawott, fill this bucket up with water please, just for safety reasons. Fennikin when they return with the wood you will light it okay?" She said to her other two Pokemon. They both nodded showing that they understood their tasks and Oshawott began to fill the bucket with water.

Arilla looked over at Nicholas and Sara. They were sitting in a circle with all of their Pokemon. Arilla really adored Sara's Eevee. Arilla would love to have an Eevee on her team. Thinking about her team Arilla pulled out her Contest catalog from her backpack. It had a full list of every single Contest that was scheduled to take place in the Sinnoh Region. The next one was in Jubilife City, and then there was one in Canalave City but they would have to go out of their way to get there. Another one was in Oreburg City, then one in Floraroma Town, and another in Enterna City, then two in Hearthome City, and Arilla kept reading on thru the dates. Then she got to the Grand Festival, it would be in Sunnyshore City. Arilla already had two ribbons from the Unova Region, and now she just need three more to be able to compete in the Sinnoh Region's Grand Festival. Before she had left for the Sinnoh Region Arilla had made sure to get her Contest Pass, this allowed her to compete in other Region's Contests. The two ribbons Arilla had were, a minty green with white tips and a leaf shaped golden plate in the center with the small red sphere. Her second one was a light orange with Y shaped white lines on it, the golden plated center was in the shape of a rhombus.

Arilla had been so caught up in the thought of Contests that she didn't notice that Robert and her Pokemon had returned with the firewood and stones.

"Oh Snivy you can start making a circle with the stones and if you two could just set all the wood in one pile that'd be nice. Fennikin I am going to need your fire in a minute." She said. Arilla took out a pad of paper that she kept in her backpack. She tore out two pieces and ripped them into stripes. Then she places the wood carefully inside of the circle of stones and then crumpled up the paper and placed it accordingly. "Okay Fennikin, just blow a little flame onto the crumpled paper. " Arilla instructed. Fennikin did as she was told and within the next few minutes they had a nice fire going.

When the fire was hot enough Arilla unwrapped the packages of meat. She set them on the grill that was placed over the fire and watched them sizzle and start to cook. Then she took out her prongs and spatula. Every few minutes Arilla checked the meat with the prongs and if needed she flipped it over to its other side with the spatula. Once the meet was cooking nicely she set up to start making the other things for dinner. Along with their barbecued meat they would be having a nice selection of vegetables and different kinds of berries. The vegetables and berries had been picked fresh this morning from her aunt's garden. The smell of the cooking meat brought over Robert, Nicholas, Sara, and all their Pokemon too. The three of them took out eating utensils and some disposable plates. When the meat was finished cooking Arilla took it off the grill with the prongs and set it on a platter.

Nicholas reached for the platter holding the meat with a fork, Arilla saw him out of the corner of her eye. She slapped his hand away and said "No! You'll wait until everything is finished. Patience."

"But it smells so good, and I'm starving!" Nicholas whined. He was rubbing his previously slapped hand.

"Just wait, jeez Nicholas you act as if you've never been fed before." Arilla replied. It made Robert smirk a little. "The Pokemon food is over there, there is some for everyone." Arilla added. Because all of their Pokemon were giving her big wide eyes. They all turned around and saw the bowls each with their own PokeFood in it and they all ran over and started eating.

She started dishing out their food. Arilla gave everyone two slices of the meat and a large side dish of the berries and vegetables. Right away Nicholas began shoveling his all down his throat. Arilla just sighed and rolled her eyes. She began eating like a civilized person with her fork and knife. The four of them were all quiet except for the clattering and scraping of the silverware on the plate. Arilla looked over at all the other Pokemon, almost all of them had finished eating. Now they were lounging around, some were flat on their backs with their full bellies and some were laying across each other and were falling asleep. Arilla saw that Robert caught her gaze and followed it to the Pokemon. His three were all asleep on the grass. His Chespin was sleeping on her back and snorting softly. Robert's Tepig was curled up along with his Squirtle. Arilla watched Robert pull out his three PokeBalls and return his Pokemon to them.

The sky had turned dark now, the moon was rising and stars were beginning to appear. The fire's light was all the light they had besides the pale moon. Since Arilla was now thinking of the fire she called Fennikin over to boost it back up again, it was very small now. Fennikin pranced over and lightly blew on the dwindling flames. They swelled back to a larger size and so did the heat from the fire. Arilla hadn't realized how chilly it had gotten. The Sinnoh Region was much colder then the Unova Region, even in summer time. Sinnoh was the northern-est Pokemon Region.

"Hey Fennikin, bring Snivy, Oshawott, and Pachirisu over here." Arilla said. The fox Pokemon nodded and pranced away again. She returned with Arilla's other three Pokemon. The four of them looked up at Arilla eagerly. "Tomorrow we start Contest training. So get a good night's sleep." Arilla told her Pokemon. Their first contest was going to be in Jubilife City, which was just one town over.

Arilla looked back up at the sky again, the stars were bright tonight. Some people would take that as a sign, an omen, or even a message. Arilla thought of it as a bright future. They would always be guided by the stars during the hours of the night. Even during the day the stars were out, but they were not visible against the sun. Arilla looked up all them with wide eyes, she enjoyed the faint shimmer of them. The air here in Sinnoh was much clearer and sort of a more sense of purity. Or maybe that was because Arilla was a city girl, she was born and raised in Castelia City in Unova. Though these rural and countrysides of Sinnoh captured her eyes with joy. She liked all the free space and not having everything super crowded. She felt like she could finally stretch and take a breath of fresh air. Obviously, Arilla was not homesick. It helped that she had some of her family here too, so it wasn't full submersion.

The Pokemon Contests back in Unova were quite different too, in comparison to Sinnoh's. On the long flight from Unova to Sinnoh Arilla had watched various Sinnoh Contest battles and judge appeals that had been aired on television. She had the previous five Sinnoh Grand Festival's on recording too. Those were very interesting to watch and Arilla had taken lots of notes on them. That would be easier than having to watch the videos again just to find the same information she had already written down. There was this 'Double Performances' that Arilla had heard and seen, those were very intriguing to her. The ability to use _two _Pokemon in a contest was thrilling. She could use Fennikin and Oshawott for a whole fire vs. water rivalry. Or she could go for the cool and graceful water and grass with Oshawott and Snivy. Or the dazzling effect of Fennikin and Pachirisu. Or even the bright combination of Oshawott and Pachirisu together. Just thinking of all the combinations were exciting Arilla.

Now that Arilla was thinking of Contests, her mind wandered to her journal she kept. She had a record of every Pokemon pair she had bred and the offspring. Arilla sold Pokemon Eggs for money which helped pay for the fees of being a Coordinator. Arilla set her plate down and Sara picked it up as she, Nicholas, and Robert started cleaning up. One of the perks of being the cook, the others have to clean up when it's over. Arilla stood up and walked over to her backpack. In one of the pockets she pulled out her journal that she kept. The journal was a hardcover with a slip of black ribbon that was attached somewhere to the book in the binding of it, with it she marked her place. On the cover of the book there were small framed pictures of her with her Unova Pokemon. There were several, one was of the day she first went out on her Pokemon journey. They were pictures of her winning her two ribbons and some other contests that she had not won. Arilla flipped open the well worn book to her previous entry, it had been multiple weeks back before she had left for the Sinnoh Region.

_May_

_A fellow Coordinator gave me her two Pokemon, a female Vulpix, and a male Growlithe to breed. I let the two Pokemon do their thing and I checked on them a few hours latter, they had an egg with them. When they were finished in total there were four eggs. Three Growlithes, one male and two female, and one female Vulpix. The Coordinator was very happy, she paid me extra for what we had agreed on.  
_

Arilla read the entry and remember the other Coordinator, she had short brown hair and brown eyes, she was tall and liked fire types. Arilla turned back a page and proceeded to read more of her entries.

_Today I bred a Glameow, female, and a male Leafeon. They had already been a nice breeding pair for me and I can come to rely on them for there services. After they had finished breeding, and after I had gotten them set up, there were a whopping six eggs. Evenly split between them, three Eevees and three Glameows. Of the Eevees they ended up all male. And the Glameows, two female and one male. Of the three Eevees, I sold one to a couple who were going to give it to their son on his birthday which was the next day as his present and he would start his journey too. The second Eevee was sold to a Coordinator, he told me that he planned to evolve it into an Espeon someday. The third Eevee went to an elderly lady who had a whole bunch of Eevees and their evolutions. She said that this one would complete her long search to attain all the Eevee evolutions. She paid me double then what I had set for the price. As for the Glameows, one male went to a female trainer who was looking for a good normal type Pokemon for her team. One of the female Glameows one was bought as to be more of a stay home Pokemon. And the last one was sold to a young trainer girl who was claiming to be the best. _

_This afternoon brought me another breeding. I came across a Poliwrath, female, and a Golduck, male. They two seemed to like each other so I had them breed. They had made a small amount, only two. And both were Poliwags, both female two. The lady who bought them said she was going to have them in her large garden to have a easy and relaxing life. _

"What'cha reading?"

The voice broke Arilla out of her phase and she looked up in the dim light to see Sara standing next to her. She had changed clothes into some nightwear, she was wearing some charcoal grey sweatpants and a t-shirt that had a faded image on it, the t-shirt looked big on her. Her hair was down and came to her chest. The fire light was flickering in her eyes, the flames were dancing in her pupils.

"Oh, it's just my records of all the Pokemon I've bred." Arilla said. She sat down next to her backpack, slightly rattled since Sara snapped her back to reality.

"Can I see it?" She asked as she sat down next to Arilla. Arilla handed the journal to her. Sara held it gently and flipped through the pages and skimmed through them. Sara read them the entries rather quickly and then handed the book back to Arilla. "That's really neat. Cool that you've bred so many Pokemon and had lots of positive outcomes." Sara said. Arilla nodded.

"You know, we do have a good amount of pairs that can bred just with our own Pokemon." Arilla said, a hint of excitement in her voice.

"Really? I don't know much about breeding, really I all know is that you see a male and a female Pokemon, and something about egg groups." Sara said with a smile.

"Yeah I know all the special needs for breeding Pokemon. But I think you know that already. From our Pokemon these are the ones that I think will breed nicely." Arilla said, and then paused before going on. "Turtwig and Snivy. Charmander and Treeko. Torchic could bred with Fennikin, Shinx, Eevee, or Pachirsui." Arilla said finishing her list.

Sara was silent for a few moments while she thought, then she spoke. "I think that we should do all of them that you said! But for my Torchic I think he should only breed with Fennikin and Eevee." Sara proposed.

"Sure, why not! I'll get my materials ready." Arilla said. Normally she never did three different breedings at one time, but hey she would have help with this. Even though Sara didn't know much about it. Plus this way they would get a lot of eggs to sell or maybe keep. Arilla pulled out her breeding things from her bag. It really only had a few things, most of the breeding just needed the Pokemon to follow through. Arilla had her egg cases, some blankets and Pokemon treats. While Sara explained to Nicholas what they would be doing and getting the Pokemon over to Arilla, Arilla went into the woods a little bit to make the four different little sections for where the breeding would be happening. They were only four feet in lengths and width. The Pokemon liked to be cozy and close. But for the space in between each spot she did approximately twenty feet.

Sara brought over the seven Pokemon that would be doing the breeding. She had them next to their partner. She had evenly spaced them out and they looked ready to go. Arilla took each pair one by one to their little spot. She would start with Turtwig and Snivy. She fed each of them the special treats that were only supost to be used during breeding. Once the two of them were situated she left them to it and went back to Sara and the waiting Pokemon. Next she took Charmander and Treeko, surprisingly they shared an egg group. They ate the treats and could hardly wait before getting right to it. Since they were off to a good start Arilla went back for Torchic, Fennikin, and Eevee. Arilla was not worried about them getting hurt or anything or which female would be receiving Torchic's attention, Pokemon had a weird way of working that stuff out and everyone ends up happy. The three of them ate their share of treats and proceeded with the breeding.

Arilla returned to Sara and smiled. "Now we wait."

...

* * *

...

An hour and a half later is when Arilla went to check up on the Pokemon. While they were waiting the four of them, her, Nicholas, Robert, and Sara had been chatting and enjoying the evening. The fire was still going, they had added a few more logs to it. During that time Arilla had changed into her sleepwear and prepared herself for bed. She pulled on her slippers or as she prefers people call them, her super comfortable light weight shoes.

Sara hopped out of her sleeping bag and followed behind Arilla to check up on the Pokemon. Arilla thought that they would all be done by now since none of them have ever bred before. But who knows, maybe some of them were super shy before proceeding. She planned to start in the order of how they began. The two of them walked over to where Turtwig and Snivy where, they were laying down next to each other, almost asleep. With them were three eggs. Arilla was so happy, her little Snivy had done very well, and thanks to Turtwig too. Arilla pet the two Pokemon. She knew from past experience that they would both want to sleep next to their eggs.

Arilla picked up one egg and handed it to Sara and picked up the other two. They walked back to where Nicholas and Robert were and had the two sleep grass type Pokemon daddling behind them. Arilla had grabbed the blankets too and told Nicholas to make a nice comfortable nest for the Pokemon to sleep in along with their eggs. Snivy and Turtwig slipped right into the circle blanket nest and curled up next to each other while making sure that all of their eggs were in good condition.

Arilla and Sara walked back to where Charmander and Treeko were. They had two eggs and were awake, but they seemed kind of tired. Arilla saw that Sara was really proud of her Treeko and praised it. They each carried an egg and made their way back to the guys where they had made a second nest. The fire and grass type Pokemon went to bed just like Turtwig and Snivy.

The last three were still waiting and had separated their eggs. Torchic was in the middle, right in between the two clusters of eggs. On his left side Fennkin had two eggs, and on his left side it was Eevee with three. Arilla picked up Fennikin's eggs and watched as Sara managed to get Eevee's three. They walked back with the three Pokemon and thankfully Robert was making their nest bigger since it had to fit more eggs and three Pokemon. They fell asleep just in the same positions as how they were found.

All seven Pokemon were fast asleep now and some how touching all of their eggs with some part of their body. To keep the heat in, since eggs need splendid conditions, they put a blanket across the top of each little blanket nest. This way the Pokemon and their eggs would stay nice and warm. The blankets were great for keeping the heat in and they were keeping all the Pokemon and eggs close together.

"Wow. You two did really well. I've never seen so many eggs at one time." Nicholas said with a yawn.

"Nicely done. Are you planning on selling all of them?" Robert asked them.

"Maybe, it depends." Arilla answered him and she yawned too. "Dang it Nicholas, now you've made me tired."

"Sorry..." he mumbled. His head was buried in his pillow while the rest of him was hidden by his sleeping bag.

"Haha." Sara laughed weakly, she was not yawning, yet. They were all tired. Even though they had not really traveled that far today.

"Goodnight you guys." Sara said as she slipped back into her sleeping bag. They each responded, but Nicholas had some kind of mumbled reply that was drowned out by the pillow. Arilla went into hers and laid on her stomach. Nicholas was face down into his pillow, he was probably sleeping already and he was to Arilla's right. Sara was to her left and lying on her back which left Robert across from her. The fire that was in front of them was down to the last little bit. Just embers and a few cinders left. Arilla rolled onto her back and once again looked back up at the stars. They were even more visible now from the darker sky, and the fire was basically gone now. She could see them twinkling and others had a shimmery glow.

"Arilla?" Robert asked quietly.

"Yeah?" she whispered.

"I hope you have a good idea for breakfast. Nicholas never stops eating, and he was talking about it earlier while you and Sara were getting the breeding situated." He replied.

"Yeah I do. If you want one of the eggs you can, or if you want to have an egg but sell it or maybe even trade it for another Pokemon. I heard Sinnoh does a lot of trading." Arilla responded.

"Yeah. Okay. Goodnight Arilla, see you in the morning." Robert said.

"Goodnight." She said. Arilla looked up at the stars one last time before closing her eyes. She had no idea that there was someone in the bushes watching them.


	4. Chapter 3 : The Boy Who Can Cook

Chapter 3 | THE BOY WHO CAN COOK

Robert awoke to the smell of food cooking and it was wonderful. He lay in his sleeping bag for a few more minutes while he listened to Arilla make their breakfast, she was a cooking genius. This food was beyond a doubt amazing, and Robert hadn't even seen it yet. Much less even tasted it. He rolled over and opened his eyes.

Arilla was not making the food, because she was still sleeping in her sleeping bag. Robert looked over to where the smell of glorious food was being prepared, it as a guy. It wasn't Nicholas because he was sleeping right next to Robert. And Nicholas would never be the first one up or even try to make something other then a sandwich. The boy was younger then Robert himself, but maybe the same age as Nicholas. Or maybe a year younger. The boy had very faint or pale light green eyes, maybe they were hazel. He had brown hair, a richer darker brown then Robert's own hair. The boy's hair was a mop or sort of layered and was longer than Nicholas's blonde hair. His hair was also much thicker then Robert's thin wispy hair.

Robert also noticed that Sara was not in her sleeping bag. Robert sat up in his sleeping bag and rubbed his eyes. He could hear Sara's voice and looked over to where food was being made. He saw that Sara was sitting down next to all the Pokemon eggs and talking with the boy making food. She was still in her pajamas.

Robert stood up and walked over to them. The boy was shorter than himself, by about four inches. Now that Robert as becoming more awake he was much more aware of his surroundings. He saw that the boy had his Pokemon out, or at least some of them. There was a Chimchar, Bayleef, and an Axew. The Bayleef was helping it's trainer with the plates and setting them. The Chimchar was manning the fire which was being used to cook some scrambled eggs and bacon. No wonder why Robert thought it smelled so good. Lastly the Axew was sorting food into bowls and separate dishes. Robert saw little biscuits and multiple kinds of berries, and some fruits. He saw that were two pitchers full of liquids. One had water and the other, it looked like orange juice.

"Oh hey Robert, this is Charlie. He's from Sandgem Town and wants to join us and travel with us. Isn't he an amazing cook?" Sara said to Robert. She was leaning over her shoulder as Robert sat down next to her.

"Good morning, did you sleep well?" Charlie asked Robert.

"Yeah I did thanks. What about you? You must have been awake at dawn slaving over this meal." Robert replied. The Axew brought over a plate filled with food to Robert. It had two breaded biscuits that had butter and jam on them already. There was a portion of steaming scrambled eggs. Five little berries, they looked ripe and wonderful. Lastly, there were three long stripes of bacon in the center of his plate. The Bayleef brought him utensils and a glass, which was empty. The Bayleef looked at Robert with a question written on her face. "Oh, orange juice will be fine. Thank you." He said to it. The Bayleef looked overjoyed to be of good services and poured some juice into Robert's glass.

Robert popped one of the berries into his mouth, it was a juicy purple one that was just the right amount of sweetness. He ate another berries and smiled at its wonderful taste. He saw that the Chimchar had served Sara her plate of food. She was chowing down hungrily and seemed to be enjoying the food. Robert began to eat the scrambled eggs and then took a big bite out of one of the biscuits. He finished the biscuit in a second bite but it was a mouth full. Robert used his fork and knife to cut one bacon strip into bite sized pieces and began eating them.

From behind him Robert heard someone approaching them. He could hear their footsteps in the grass. He knew it would be Arilla, Nicholas would sleep until noon if nobody woke him up.

"Whoa... did I sleep cook?" Arilla asked looking at all the food.

"No. This would be the work of Charlie here. He's from Sandgem Town and would like to join us on our journey. He is a great cook." Sara introduced him.

"I thought it would be your decision." Robert told Arilla in between bites of bacon.

"Well I'm sure a verdict can be reached by the end of the day. For now lets eat thought, it does smell good." Arilla said as she sat down in between Sara and Robert.

Robert watched Arilla take a few bites of her breakfast. Robert wat curious to see if she would approve of Charlie and his meal. She smiled after eating a few bites so Robert tok that as a good sign. He didn't know if she would be okay with having another cook in the group, or maybe she would like the idea, someone to help out. Or maybe she would think we were trying to replace her, which Robert didn't really think was a posibility. But hey, who knows what goes on in Arilla's reserved and quiet mind.

"It's really good Charlie, where did you learn to cook?" Arilla asked him after finishing her biscuits and a few berries. Robert went on to finish his bacon and scrambled eggs.

"My family owns a few bakerys. Cooking is a big part of our family. My oldest sister and her husband own one in Jubilife City, my two other older sisters and brother run the one in Hearthome City, my aunt and uncle manage one in Veilstone City, and lastly my grand parnets own the original Despallet bakery in Sunnyshore City. So natrally I was cooking and baking from a young age and lets just say when ever we get together for fests it's a whole parade of food." Charlie explained.

"You said the name of the bakery were called Despallet right? Is that your last name?" Sara asked him. She had finished her food.

"Yeah, that's what all four of the bakerys are called, named after the first one in Sunnyshore City. And yeah that would be my last name, Charlie Despallet." He said.

"Do your parents not work at a bakery then? Since Sara said you are from Sandgem town?" Robert asked.

"No they don't. My dad works with Professor Rowan at his lab there. My mom works there too sometimes, but she usually just works part time at the Pokemon Center helping Nurse Joy." Charlie summed up.

"What class are you in? Like for example I'm a Coordinator and a Breeder, Robert here is an Explorer, and Nicholas over there sleeping is a Pokemon Trainer." Arilla asked him.

"Oh um well, I'd like to be a Pokemon Scientist, or the more slang term an Expert. I also really want to be a baker too. To make both sides of my family proud." Charlie awnsered.

"You'd make a great baker, this food is great." Sara replied.

"Thank you." Charlie said to her.

"You know Charlie, you can be whatever you want to be. You don't have be what your family is doing." Robert said to him.

"Yeah, your right. But I really do want to be a baker but I also want to do something with Pokemon too." He said back.

"That's also why you go out on your journey to see the world and all that it has to offer." Arilla told him. That resinated with Robert because that's why he chose to be an Explorer, he didn't want to pick just one lifestyle, he wanted to expirence it all.

"So what do you do?" Charlie asked Sara, Arilla hadn't listed what she did.

"I'm a Trainer and a Coordinator. I want my Pokemon to be strong and show off their beauty." Sara replied.

"That's cool." Charlie said. "Does anyone want any more food? I made more then I usually do because I didn't know how much you guys would eat."

"No, I'm stuffed. Thanks thought." Sara said.

"Same here." Arilla replied.

"I'll wake up Nicholas, it's time he started getting up at a decent hour." Robert said. He set his plate down and stood up. Robert did a small strech before walking over to Nicholas's sleeping bag Robert braced himself for any harsh words or any projectiles that might come his way. Nicholas was deffietnly not a morning person. First Robert just nudged him with his foot, but that wasn't enough to wake the teen. So he nudged him a little more, and then harder. But with no such luck. Then Robert bent down and used both of his hands to shake the blonde haired guy gently. Robert wasn't going to be rude about it and just kick him or shake him violently awake, instead he was going to do it nicely.

Robert tapped his shoulder a few times and then rolled Nicholas over to see that he was still fast asleep. Robert sighed and shook Nicholas a little more. Robert then proceeded to unzip his sleeping bag and when it was all the way undone he flung the top half over and off of Nicholas.

The sudden movement and the rush of cold woke Nicholas with a start. "HEY!" He shouted as he woke with a jump. He had leaped to his feet and was standing next to Robert with a look of shock on his face. Nicholas was looking around wildly for any sense of danger, but found none. Instead he found food. Charlie's Bayleef had brought over a plate full of food that Charlie had loaded up for Nicholas. Nicholas looked down at the grass type Pokemon and reached down to take the plate and pet its head. Nicholas walked over to the rest of them with Robert following behind. Robert sat back down where he had been previously, next to Sara. Nicholas sat down in between Arilla and Charlie. He ate his breakfast slowly but after a few bites he began to eat much faster and take huge mouthfulls.

Robert remembered when they were younger, it was when he, Sara, and Nicholas had been very young. The three of them were having dinner at Sara's house when it had happened. Nicholas had really liked the food so he had shoveled practically all of it down his throat and looked a little savage. Now Nicholas as a teenager was able to keep it all in his mouth but was still taking big bites.

"So, who is this?" Nicholas asked with a jesture to Charlie.

"This is Charlie, he is from Sandgem Town and is on his journey too! He would like to join us and travel with us while we are on ours." Sara explained.

"Hi, you must be Nicholas." Charlie said with a smile.

"Yeah, that'd be me." Nicholas said in between bites. He streched out his legs and his shorts were a dark blue. His t-shirt was a faded orange color and was several years old. Nicholas finsihed the rest of his food and then thanked Charlie for making it. the Bayleef brought him a cup filled with water and Nicholas downed it.

Robert looked at the sleeping Pokemon and their eggs. There were so many Robert wondered what they would do with all of them. He knew that breeders usually sold their eggs to others and other things like it but they had so many eggs, Robert found it very unusual and a little exsessive. But hey, now they would get a lot of money for those eggs and even maybe trade them for other Pokemon.

Robert was pulled out of his thoughts by something Nicholas said.

"There's a storm coming." Nicholas said looking up at the sky. Robet hadn't noticed that the sky was a dark grey with all the clouds covering it. Robert estimated that the storm would hit late today or the next day, but it was coming soon. This would be a summer storm, which almost always brought tons of rain and a whole bunch of thunder, not to mention crazy winds too.

"Should we go back to Twinleaf Town and wait it out? We're really close by, or we could try to make it to Sandgem Town quickly." Sara proposed.

"No way! We just left that place and now we have to go back? Why don't we just take one of the forest trails instead? That way we have shelter and can camp out in the woods and take a first hand look at living outside." Nicholas jeered.

"But there is some danger to just going off in the woods during a storm." Robert said, adding to the discussion.

"If you guys do want to we can go to my house in Sandgem Town." Charlie offered. He then returned his Pokemon to their Pokballs.

"I agree with a Nicholas. We have a large tent, and its a pretty good steady one too. It can handle a storm it was specifically made for that. And you three(Nicholas, Sara, and Robert) surely know that our families are betting on how long we last on our own right?" Arilla said. Robert thought she was crazy for wanting to stay out in the storm. A part of Robert wanted too, but not when he knew some of the risks and when they had the opportunity to stay at a house.

"Yeah! This can be our chance to prove ourselves!" Sara cried.

"Or make them worry sick about us." Robert countered. He wasn't too keen on making his parents worry, and he thought Arilla would be on his side for this. Then he realized she might just be trying to get on the good and buddy buddy side of Nicholas and Sara, and possibly Charlie too.

"Yeah but what happens when we get to Hearthome, Veilstone, and even Snowpoint? They can't expect us to run home every night and they're going to worry about us no matter where we are. They are parents, it's what they do." Arilla said.

"Also we have each other and our Pokemon too, I think we're good to go. That's what this journey is all about right?" Sara replied.

"So the forest path is it! We'll be camping it out in the woods tonight!" Nicholas said.

"Then lets get going. We can pack everything up and then hang out here for a few hours and then leave for the forest." Robert said. It didn't look lke his plan was going to win over anyone. Robert was not afraid of the storm in a sense that it would have rain, wind, and thunder. He was worried about how they would be able keep their Pokemon safe and Robert would rather take the safer path that was offered then the one that had risks. Even though he was an explorer he didn't want to be stupid and rash and take lots of risks.

Robert looked up at the looming clouds overhead, he became sure that the storm would hit this afternoon. They still had about four hours untill noon and Robert would like to be moving out in their trail blazing within two hours. Since the others didn't want to take the more traditonal route to get to Sandgem Town they wold be hiking through the woods. Robert would like to make their camp in the woods before the storm hit and before it got dark.

"Does this mean I get to come with you into the forest?" Charlie asked.

"Yeah, you'll just have to help with lunch, dinner, and some other things along the way." Arilla replied.

The five of them then began to get their camp site cleaned up. Robert began to roll up his sleeping bag and pulled out his day clothes. Some dark blue jeans and a deep forest green long sleeve shirt. Robert also pulled out a clean pair of socks and a light rain coat. Robert stuffed his sleeping bag back into his backpack and then proceeded to change in the woods into his clothes. Robert walked multiple yards into the tree line and changed out of his sleep wear and into his day clothing.

Robert walked back to his friends and stuffed his other clothes back into the backpack. He looked around to see what he could do the help the others. Sara and Arilla had changed into thier regular clothing. Sara was wearing some light blue pants with a white shirt on that had a silhouette of Jubilife City on it. Arilla had on a red shirt with a rose on it and her pants were dark blue jeans. Nicholas was still in his sleepwear and Charlie was wearing had he had been before, some orange pants with a white t-shirt. The shirt had black faded letters on it, Robert recognized it to be 'Despallet', it was Charlie's bakery's shirt. Robert also noticed that there was a chef's hat on the top left corner of the letter D.

Robert wasn't really needed anywhere, Arilla and Charlie were putting the last of the cooking stuff away and Sara was tying her shoes. Nicholas was heading to change his clothes. Robert's eyes fell on the Pokemon eggs. All of his Pokemon had been called back to their Pokeballs when they first woke up but they left the eggs out with all the blankets. Robert walked over to them, they had ten eggs. That was a ton. Which meant they would have to carry them, and there was a storm coming. While he was looking at the eggs he noticed each of them had stickers on them. Some of the had a small regtangle shape on the side of the egg in a red color. Robert figured it was for the type. Each egg had a small stripe of tap on it. One of the eggs had a green sticker and the tap said Turtwig or Snivy and so did two other eggs. Two eggs had red and green stickers for either Treeko or Charmander. And three more had red and grey for either Torchic or Eevee. Some other two had red for either Torchic or Fennikin.

Now that Robert had looked at all the eggs he fully realized that there were ten, and they didn't have enough space for them all. This surely would bring a lot of new Pokemon to the team or some money. Personally Robert didn't really want any of the outcomes, he would like a Machop or a Cubchoo. Or even a Mareep. It also wouldn't hurt to have a Chansey or some oher healing nurse Pokemon.

"What are we going to do about all the eggs?" Robert asked them all.

"I think I can help with that." A man's voice sounded behind Robert.

Robert turned around to see a man about in his thirties with two small children and a Sudowoodo. They were near the entrance to the lake and they had heard Robert because it was quiet and they had made camp near the break in the trees.

"Hi there, do you have any rock types?" The man asked. His to kids looked very excited and Robert was a little upset to say that they didn't have any.

"No sorry we don't have any rock types."

"What about water types?" He asked, his kids were giddy still.

"I'm sorry, we do have grass types some fire types and a possibility of a normal type." Robert repled.

"Daddy! Can we get the fire type!" The little girl cried.

"Please daddy!" the small boy whinned.

"What fire types do you have?" The father asked.

"We can show you." Arilla said coming up beside Robert. "We have some, there is a chance of having Charmanders, Torchics, and Fennikins. The Charmander could be either a Treeko or a Charmander so its not 100% to be a fire type. But with the other two litters I sugest you take on from this one." Arilla said and stood beside the one that had either Torchic or Fennikin. "With that other litter there is a chance that you would get a normal type instead." Arilla said.

"You make a good sale. What is the price?" The man asked. His children were jumping up and down they were so excited.

"Well, $1500 for each." Arilla said flatly.

The father looked uncomfortable. "Uh, I only have $2000, can I trade my Phanpy for one and pay the $1500 for the other?" He proposed.

"Can we see the Phanpy?" Arilla asked. Robert thought she sounded interested in it.

He let out his Phanpy and Robert thought it looked pretty good. It wasn't a newly hatched or looked sick or weak. It smiled when it came out of it's Pokeball and gave a light cheer. The Phanpy ran around the dad in circles a few times before crying out it's name happily. The ground type looked like it was in good health.

"Can you show it's moves?" Arilla asked.

"Alright! Phanpy use rollout on that tree!" The man called. The ground type sprang into action and launched it's attack. It barreled into the tree with such force that it knocked the tree over and the tree's trunk snapped. "Now use hidden power!" Phanpy drew in green light balls that had what looked like thorn studded edges before blasting it into the lake with a pulsing beam coming from Phanpy. "Use ancient power, shoot it into the air and then use ice shards!" Phanpy tilted backwards and shot four rocks into the air. Then it shot out four shards of ice that cut the rocks in half and they fell to ground and the rocks dissolved and the ice shattered. "And there's all of them, but Phanpy also knows slam and earthquake but slam is pretty common and I didn't want to mess up the lake side here with earthquake.

"It's a deal." Arilla responded. She looked pleased.

"Oh really? Thank you!" the man said. He told his children to go play with Sudowoodo while he dealt with things. His children happily obliged and ran off a ways they were half way in between the lake and the tree line. "Phanpy, you are going with this nice lady here. I know you'll enjoy your time with them. And I hope you do great things. So, she is your master now." The man said, he had bent down so that he was at eye level with the Pokemon. Then he stood up and handed Arilla the Pokeball belonging to Phanpy. "Take good care of him." the man said to Arilla.

"I will." Arilla replied as she took the Pokeball from his outstretched hand.

Arilla handed him the two eggs from Fennikin and Torchic's litter. The man handed her the money and they then shook hands.

Robert thought that they should leave now instead of waiting. Arilla seemed to think so too because she pulled her backpack onto her shoulders and recalled her new Phanpy to his Pokeball. From one of her side pouches she pulled out egg carrying cases. She loaded up the eggs into them and they shrunk back down to a smaller lighter size with the egg still inside and she put them back into her side pouch. Arilla then had three eggs left and handed one to Sara and Robert himself, before picking up the last one. The man had returned to his kids and they were playing beside the lake shore.

The five of them headed for the trees and soon enough they were completely engulfed by all the plants. Robert walked near the front of their cluster so that he could monitor where they were going and watch for any alarms. Robert didn't view himself as controlling or bossy, he just wanted to look out for the welfare of his friends and their safety. They continued walking, for they most part they were pretty quiet. Robert didn't really partake in any conversation. But he listened to Arilla and Charlie talk about cooking things. Mostly about their favorite dishes they made or their best cooking memories and experiences. Robert was glad that they getting along, he liked Charlie and hoped they could become friends. He thought Charlie would fit well into their group, even thought the other four had known each other pretty much since they were five.

Robert also listened to Sara and Nicholas, they were talking about the recent Battle Competition they had watched together on TV a few days before they left for their journey. Robert knew Nicholas well enough to know that he could one day become a Gym Leader, an Elite Four member, or even the Champion of the Sinnoh Region. He had the burning fire within him. Sara could too, Robert knew that she would make it far. She had a natural gift for being good with Pokemon and being a great trainer. He was surprised to hear when she wanted to be a Coordinator too. Robert knew that Arilla was a successful Coordinator, she had won some Ribbons previously in Unova, and he wondered if Sara would end up letting go of her Coordinator path to focus on being a only a trainer. No matter what path his friends would take in their life, Robert would make sure that he was there to support them all the way.


	5. Chapter 4 : Stormy Weather

CHAPTER 4 | STORMY WEATHER

They had been trekking thru the woods for about forty five minutes before the rain began. But it was the thunder that alerted them to the arrival of the storm. The trees were tall and had many layers to them. But not even they could hide the rolling thunder. In the gaps in between the leafs rain fell thru. It started out as a light and calm rain, but before five minutes had gone by it started to pick up and became pelting rain. The thunder continued booming overhead. Soon the bushes and other plants were dripping with water. It was sliding right off their leafs and onto the ground that was already becoming soaked.

A flash of lighting appeared overhead and it was shortly followed by a loud crack of thunder. Sara looked up to the sky only to be greeted by multiple rain drops showering her face. Her Froakie was loving the rain. He was dancing around in it and splashing into puddles. Her other four Pokémon were inside of their nice warm and dry Pokéballs. Sara had pulled on her rain jacket at the first sigh of rain. She liked the rain, but only when she was better dressed. Her shoes were soaked and were getting rather muddy. Her pants were denim and would take forever to dry. Thankfully all of her valuables were inside of her backpack that was waterproof. She had it sealed up all the way so that not a single drop could penetrate it. Luckily it wasn't windy, which would cause all of the rain to fly in every direction possible. The rain was falling off of the sides of her hood in small streams. The Pokémon egg was being held in her jacket, it made a lump which looked as if she was pregnant. Arilla had her egg wrapped up in a few layers of thick blankets and held it close to her. Robert had given his egg to Nicholas to hold so that he had both hands free to scout out their way.

A little bit ago they had to cross a stream, Sara thought it was probably smaller them what it was currently. It had looked as if it was overflowing, it couldn't contain all of the water and was gushing with it. This is what caused her shoes to get muddy. And she wasn't wearing any boots, these were just running shoes. And they are not completely soaked and whenever she stepped the shoes made squishing sounds and leaked water.

Sara had tried to leap over the stream in one nice swoop but of course that didn't happen. She had taken a few steps back to get a larger jump and it would have worked perfectly, if there hadn't been mud on the other side. She had landed in it and immediately started slipping backwards but Nicholas caught her hand and pulled her to the top where it was stable.

"Let's try and look for a flat space and relativity dry spot." Robert shouted over the sound of rain. His Squirtle was out of it's Pokéball too, Froakie would splash in puddles with Squirtle and then they would chase each other around Robert and Sara. She was glad they were enjoying themselves. Neither of them were afraid of the storm which was good. Sara noticed that Arilla was keeping her Pokémon inside of their balls instead of letting her water type Oshawott out. Sara thought it was because Arilla didn't want the possibly of her Pokémon getting hurt. Sara understood her concern but disregarded them herself. A large clap of thunder sounded directly above them and this sent Totodile cowering over to Nicholas. Froakie looked up at the dark grey sky and Squirtle followed his gaze, eyes wide open. They hiked for a few more minutes before Charlie spotted a good place to make camp.

"Hey guys! I think this might work. Over here!" Charlie called out to them. Sara hadn't noticed that he had walked away from the group a little. He was pointing to an opening between two rocks. His Prinplup was standing next to him, also pointing int he direction of the rocks.

"You have keen eyes Charlie!" Robert said happily. He rushed over to the rocks with Squirtle hot on his heels. Sara wondered how they had missed it, then she realized that Robert was looking forward trying to make sure the ground was solid and that they would have a safe path. The rest of them had been looking forward and unlike Charlie who was wandering.

Sara ran over too, and splashed through some puddles int he process. Froakie raced in front of her. Lightning flashed overhead and it gave her a quick glimpse of the spot. The two rocks were pretty large and they met each other at a slant and created a small shelter spot underneath. There were many thick and dense bushes in between Sara and the rocks and she had to hop over them and some how managed to keep her balance. Sara hurried over to where Charlie and Robert were standing. Robert had pulled out some pegs and a tarp from his backpack and he and Charlie were working rather quickly to stab the pegs into the ground. Sara rushed into the small opening and was followed closely by Nicholas and Arilla. Nicholas slid his backpack off his shoulders and proceeded to help the other two set up the tarp. Sara set her things down too, putting the egg next to her backpack. Arilla took all three of the eggs and put them in her small blanket nest she had made for them. She then let out Fennekin to lay next to the eggs to keep them warm.

Sara turned around to help set of the tent when she saw that they weren't setting up a tent at all. They had just stuck pegs in the ground and from the pegs out came long metal sticks. The guys had strapped the tarp over the pegs and the roof of the small crevices. The tarp was set so that is made claw shape and kept the rain from blowing in.

"We will have to set up the tent later, once the rain has lessened." Robert said as he, Nicholas, and Charlie entered the small cave.

Now that three more people were in the cave it felt a little squished. The floor was about four feet wide and it's height was hardly much more. They all had to crouch when the where standing inside of it. Arilla slid the eggs inside of the blanket to the back of the cave so that they would have more room. Sara looked around and noticed that each of them were leaving small stains on water on the ground floor since they were all soaked. Sara tried to brush some of the excess water off her pants and managed to only flick a few drops off. Sara pulled out Froakie's Pokéball and recalled him to it. She was going to need warmth, and some heat. The other seemed to have this same idea because Nicholas brought out his Charmander and recalled Totodile, while Charlie let out his Chimchar.

"If you all don't mind, Prinplup here can cut out some more room with her sharp wings. So if you could just move over to one side." Before Charlie had even finished his second sentence Sara and the others had already moved to the left side. Prinplup waddled on into the cave and made a large side dome. the rocks were pretty thick and the dome added about three feet in one section. Then Prinplup did the same thing on the other side and the others all moved back to the other side. Once Prinplup had finished Charlie held his Chimchar close, since the Pokémon had a nice fire at the end of it. Nicholas was sitting next to his fire type who also had a flame on it's tail. Sara, Robert, and Arilla did not have a fire type with an open flame. And Sara wasn't so sure it would be good for anyone of them to use ember to warm the place up.

Sara and the others sat in silence for a few minutes. Sara listened to the rain and could see that it was still pouring from the opening the tarp had. The small cave was cold, dank, and dreary. She almost would had rather stayed out in the rain, but that wouldn't have helped. Another roll of thunder sounded from above them, and lightning streaked the sky.

"Does anyone feel so adventurous that they would be willing to go out and get some wood? We need to start a fire." Arilla asked them. Charlie raised his hand, Sta felt that he did because he was the new guy and should get on the good side of his peers.

"But the wood is all wet." Nicholas protested.

"Yeah but even wet wood will burn, it may take longer but wet wood is better then no wood." Robert said.

"I'll go, but I'd like to go change into some other more waterproof clothes first." Sara said standing back up again. She grabbed her backpack and pulled out her think pants that were usually for snow, but they would work just fine for all this rain. Sara also pulled out a dark purple sweater and some dry socks. Lastly she pulled out her boots that were meant for snow but she was going to use them in the rain and mud anyways, boots were boots. Sara looked around for the best place to change in privacy and there really wasn't one. Sara was about to ask if the guys would step outside for a moment when Arilla pulled a blanket out of her bag. It was long enough so that if Sara huddled in one of the small added on parts the blanket would cover up the hole and no one could see in. Sara piled up all of her clothes and moved to the make shift changing room. After she was all the way in Arilla covered up the hole with the blanket.

Sara changed quickly and pulled her raincoat back on over her sweater, her raincoat was still wet on the outside but not on the inside. When she was done changing she left her soaked clothes in the blanket Arilla had used and piled it in the small add on. The small add on was no more then three feet wide. Sara let her Froakie out of his Pokéball again, he would be helpful in carrying sticks and he liked the rain. Sara strapped her Pokéball belt to her pants again, as it had been attached to her water logged jeans.

"Ready Charlie?" Sara asked. She stood in the cave, bent at her shoulders so that her head wouldn't hit the roof.

"Yeah! Lets go." Charlie replied. He too had pulled his raincoat on and had it zipped up all the way and had his hood pulled over the top half of his face. His Chimchar was sleeping next to the eggs, to keep them warm. While his Prinplup was standing by the entrance ready to go. Sara ducked to get out of the cave and then was greeted by the down pour of the rain. More thunder loomed over head. Once again Froakie jumped into several puddles. Charlie came out of the shelter a few moments after Sara and his Prinplup was following close behind.

"Where do you want to start?" He hollered over the rain. Prinplup and Froakie greeted each other while he asked.

Instead of shouting back to Charlie, Sara pointed in the direction. It was to the left of them and it had been the way they had come from before finding the rocky shelter spot. There were lots of trees and some of them were bound to have low branches they could break off. Sara wasn't going to completely stripe one tree and leave it with now branches. That would leave the poor tree do die since it didn't have any leafs to collect the sunlight. Even thought it was in a heavy down pour at the moment. She also didn't really want to climb high into the tree which would be wet and slippery.

Sara and Charlie didn't speak to each other while they hiked thru the forest. The sound of the rain was too much to have a decent conversation, and the thunder was loud enough to block out any vocal sounds. Sara didn't hear Charlie commanding Prinplup to use her sharp and strong wigs to slice a couple low branches from a near by tree. Her hood muffled some of the sounds and the constant rain in the forest was crazy. Sara found a thick bush that looked like it wouldn't be missing a small branch or two. Sara wasn't one to go around trashing nature, but they needed it and the plants were here to supply it. Sara pulled one medium thick stick off from the bottom of a bush and began to look for some others. Froakie was working and picking up little twigs and small sticks that had broken off and where lying on the ground. She made a pile with her sticks and various branches. As she went to grab another off of a tree a bunch of pine needles fell down, they scattered across the forest floor and some even fell down into Sara's jacket.

More thunder rolled across the sky and Sara saw the lightning dance across the grey clouds. The scent of pine trees in the rain was refreshing to Sara, she liked forests without the rain, but with the rain it added a whole new layer to it. Sara had remembered beautiful and splendid things from her early childhood years, but those things were no more then just an introduction to what the world really had to offer. Sara was very glad to be out in the region, out doing things for herself, out experiencing the journey of a trainer and the beauty of a Coordinator.

Sara was pulled out of her thoughts by Froakie having a squabble with another Pokémon, and it wasn't Charlie's Prinplup. It was a Togepi, and it had a smug look on it's face. Sara didn't hear what started it but now they were at it. Sara saw that they were both on the brink of attacking each other and she wasn't just going to let them do it. They would have a battle if they needed to get it out. Sara looked to them and saw that what looked like a messy pile of small twigs, and some were scattered away from the large cluster. Sara could put two and two together and saw that Togepi must have knocked them out of Froakie's grasp or bumped into him. Either way they were now growling at each other.

"Froakie, stop that. If you so angry them let's battle the Togepi. Ready?" Sara spoke loudly to her Pokémon. The Togepi stood firm and waited for Froakie to attack. "Alright Froakie, use quick attack!" Sara cried.

Froakie leaped into action, charging for the wild Pokémon. And of course he hit it first. The Togepi tumbled over backwards and Froakie was already safely running back to Sara. Then the Togepi used what Sara thought was Metronome, Sara had a bad feeling because this could turn out to be any more. The Togepi launched it's attack which was ember. Thankfully it wasn't very harmful to Froakie. But Sara wasn't going to let him get it.

"Use double team!" Sara called out. Four other Froakie's appeared and Togepi stopped it's attack and stared around in confusion. "Now use bubble!" She hollered. Five Froakie's used bubble and they pelted into the fairy type. Sara wasn't to big on Fairy type Pokémon and had no interest in capturing it. She would battle it until it ran away or fainted.

The Togepi looked tired and this would be a short battle. "Okay Froakie finish this with quick attack!" Once more Froakie charged into the wild Pokémon and this time it tumbled backwards but did not stand again. There were swirls in it's eyes and then Froakie stopped all signs of aggression. He cheered and ran back to Sara. Sara scooped him up and held him high in the air, it was raining and she praised him.

"You battled well." Charlie said. Sara had forgotten he was there, her mind went to a different place when she battled.

"Oh, thanks." She replied. Froakie began to gather his sticks up again into one pile. Sara set her branches down next to his pile. They had gather quite a lot and this was surely enough now. If the others wanted more then they could come out and get it themselves. "Read to go back Charlie? If the others want more then they can gather it." She said to him.

"Sure, I'm ready to get to a dry place." Charlie responded. His Prinplup was holding a few sticks but Charlie started to load it up with some of the ones Sara picked. Sara picked up the rest, no need in making Prinplup carry all of them, they could both share the load. Froakie was carrying his small twigs and sticks while Charlie carried several branches. The four of them were walking back in silence when another attack happened. They had been walking for about five minutes. Sara actually saw the beginning of it this time. A Dratini appeared out from behind a cluster of thick bushes and used Slam on Froakie. Which of course caused him to drop all of the sticks. Once again Froakie became upset and he began to shout angrily at the dragon type.

"Just keep going Charlie, we'll catch up later. I want to catch this one." She said him. He nodded and continued on for the cave. Sara pulled out an empty Pokéball from her belt. She would enjoy having this Dratini on her team, it could do wonders things. It could he helpful in battle and useful for Contests. She was not going to get it escape. "Okay Froakie, time for another battle. Use toxic spikes!" She shouted to her Pokémon. Froakie lanches spikes into the ground and when they reached the Wild Pokémon it became poisoned, it winced in pain as the status condition took effect. But this Dratini was a tough little thing, it used another slam and barreled into Froakie. Froakie rolled backwards and popped right back up, rearing to go.

"Use quick attack!" She called out. Froakie sprang forward for the Dratini and smacked into it. The Dratini was about to use another attack when the poison hit it, it stopped the process of beginning another attack and took damage instead. "Use bubble!" Sara commanded. Froakie let out a horde of bubble and the sailed into the wild Pokémon causing damage to it. Dratini then used dragon tail and it landed squarely on Froakie who was in close range. Froakie fell backwards and got up more stiffly this time. Sara needed to wrap this up sooner rather then later. Before Froakie fainted or the Dratini ran away. Another poison damage took its tool on Dratini. It used iron tail on Froakie but only grassed the side. The Dratini looked like it was close to being done, Froake had about half of it's energy. Sara was about to call for another quick attack when the Dratini fled. So instead she called out "After it!" and she had Froakie raced for the dragon type.

They chased it through the rain and the lighting above. The thunder and lightning weren't appearing as frequently anymore. But they were still showing signs of the presence. The Dratini moved all the way up a hill that turned into a rocky side of a small mountain. It was a steep drop off to the right right of them, and to their left was a thick wall of straight rocks. The Dratini was about to collapse and faint but before it could do that it let out a draco meteor. Just what they all needed while on the side of a steep cliff. Sara grabbed Froakie and tried to meld herself and her Pokémon into the side of the rocks. The ball whizzed higher into the air before exploding and showering down chunks of the attack down on the mountain side and far below. Sara threw her Pokéball at the Dratini and it burst out after the second click. The last of the meteors were falling down luckily none of them were close to Sara and the two Pokémon. The Dratini looked absolutely drained, Sara was surprised it had the strength to break out of the Pokéball. This Dratini set on going down fighting because it let out a twister, and that attack flung Sara off the side of the cliff and over the edge. As the Dratini let the twister attack out Sara had thrown her Pokéball and this time it caught the Pokémon successfully, but she still fell.

Everything was soaking wet and that made it super slick, which it why she wasn't able to hold on to anything as she slid of the edge. Sara screamed as she slipped over the side, she cut her left cheek on a sharp rock on her way down. Her shoes hit something solid and she fell with a thud. There was a small section of rock that was judging out from the side of the cliff. It had stopped Sara from falling all the way to the bottom which had a small water fall pouring out from the mountain and a pool of water below her.

Sara just laid there on the rock, the wind had been knocked out of her and she was shocked. The rain continued to beat down on her, it streaked her face and stung when it touch the cut on her cheek. Sara could hardly feel anything besides the pain from hitting the rock with such a force and the cold of the rain. After a what seemed liked endless minutes she was sure nothing was broken and was feeling like she could move again. She was laying a position that was incredibly uncomfortable. Her back was against the side of the cliff, her head was pointed up and away from the mountain, looking at the tops of the trees and the grey sky. One of her legs was bent at the knee and under the other leg that was dangling off the side.

As she regained mobility she pulled herself up into a sitting position and sat with her knees drawn close to her chest. She became vaguely aware of something calling out. She looked up and saw that it was Froakie, he was shouting down to her and she couldn't make sense of what he was saying. All she could think of was how she could have died, had it not been for this rock here.

Sara stood up and kept herself leaning against the side of the cliff. It was at least four feet to the top of the cliff, and there was no way she was going to be able to reach that. She wasn't super tall and wouldn't try to climb the side of the rocks when everything was so wet. Sara then wondered if her friends would come searching for her, maybe but she had told Charlie to go on a head and that she would catch up. It had been a little while but she didn't think they would come looking just yet. Sara didn't think it would work to begin shouting, the rain was loud even with out the thunder. But none the less she was going to try.

"Help! Somebody help me!" She hollered, hoping maybe some hiker would hear her. But any experienced person would know it was dangerous to be out in a storm. Sara was just hoping that someone was out here, this rock she was on wasn't exactly the safest thing to be standing on. "Hey! Over here!" She shouted again.

She was now finding this unsuccessful, no one was going to be out here in weather like this. But then she saw him.

He was standing over the edge of the cliff, looking down to her. He was a young man in his mid twenties. He stood tall and steady. He had eyes that were firm and an unwavering gaze, in a light steel blue color. His hair was an exact match of his eyes, the same steel blue. Sara could get lost in it forever and be perfectly content with that. He was reaching down to her, with his hand extended out. Sara reached for it and their fingers just barely touched each other. She noticed that he had two metal rings on his index and ring finger. Sara pushed herself up from the rocks and this time they got a firm grasp. He was much stronger then what Sara had been expecting, he pulled her all the way up so that she was standing face to face with him. He had reached around her with his other arm and held her so that she wouldn't fall backwards. He pulled her all the way over the cliff and set her down on her own feet.

But they were right on the edge and one of Sara's feet started to slip and he felt that and so he pulled her close and they moved to the side of the cliff, away from the edge. Sara now had her back against the wall and looked up at his face. The rain was still coming down, and lightning flashed in the sky behind him. It illuminated his face and she felt as if she was still falling. He made her feel like she was in a dream, with his silvery/steel blue hair and matching eyes. He was a dream boat, and Sara wanted to board it any never leave. She felt safe in his embrace, nothing bad could happen, no dangers made their way into this.

"Are you alright?" He spoke to her. Those three words, he sounded so kind and sincere. All Sara could do was nod yes. "Can you walk?" He asked her. She nodded again. "Good. I have made camp a ways back up the mountain side. You can come with me there to get some rest and recover. Your Froakie went inside of it's Pokéball and I grabbed your other one." He informed her. Sara nodded again and the two of them walked along the make shift path to his camp site.

They walked for about ten minutes, and he stood on the outer side so that he was closer to the edge then Sara. As they walked he would keep her from stumbling. She saw that he a dark purple dress shoes, Sara thought this was a little odd since he was up in the mountains. There was a silver band across the shoes, it acted as a buckle and it was the same shade as his rings. He also wore black pants. On the end of he sleeves he had silver cuffs that matches his rings and buckle. He had on a black over coat with purple sleeves from the middle of his upper arm down to his cuffs. The flaps over his over coat were also the same purple. There was also a purple stripe around his over coat, it looked like rim. The purple rim made streaks in a zig-zag style on the front of his over coat. He had a white undershirt and a thick wide red tie. Sara found it extremely peculiar that he was dressed in such a fancy and nice way to be out in the wild. The last thing she noticed about him was a pin he had on the flap of his jacket. There was multi colored stone placed inside of a silver pin that was clipped on his coat. It caught her eye and she wondered what it was.

As the two of them rounded a corner Sara noticed an opening in the rocks. This was where they were headed so Sara assumed it was where he had his camp set up. The opening was small and narrow. He let her go in first and she almost fell again. Sara didn't see the small drop. But she was able to sort of step over it but landed awkwardly as he closed something behind her. Sara turned around to see that he had rolled a large rock over their small entry way. Probably to keep the cold out, it was still raining bit the thunder and lightning had passed.

There was hardly any light in the cave and Sara was feeling dizzy. He knew his way around in the dark cave, and this one really was a cave, nothing like the small shelter in the woods. This cave was big enough for her to stand upright inside of it and it seemed to be several feet in width.

"Here, you can come sit down over here." He spoke to her, Sara didn't know where he was. The cave had a slight echo.

"Where?" She asked. It was dark and she couldn't see where he was. Sara could hear his steps on the cave floor and felt when his hand touched hers and he lead her to the wall. Sara sat down leaning against the wall and she heard him move around again. Something fell in a pile and it sounded like logs. She heard a match being struck and then the small flame appeared. He was lighting a fire. The fire caught quickly and it crackled and sparked. The fire's light cast small shadows on the cave walls.

"Who are you?" Sara asked him.

"Oh, sorry. Did I not introduce myself earlier?" He said standing up from where he had been tending to the. He walked over to Sara to shake her hand and said "I'm Steven Stone."


	6. Chapter 5 : Scene of the Past

CHAPTER 5 | SCENE OF THE PAST

Nicholas had finally started to get warm (thanks to his fire type Pokemon) by the time Charlie had returned, without Sara. Nicholas had been curious as to why he had come back alone. But when Charlie explained that Sara went off chasing a Dratini Nicholas understood. Nicholas knew that a Dratini was one of Sara's dream Pokemon. Along with her favorite Riolu. Personally Nicholas liked the Pokemon with raw power. He wanted strong Pokemon. Ones that could take hits and dish out plenty of attacks. That was one of the main reasons why he picked his Charmander, Totodile, and Turtwig. When Charmamder was fully evolved he would be a serious threat as a Charizard. Nicholas was going to make sure he raised all of his Pokemon perfectly. He liked Torterra because he would become an incredible tank. Being able to withstand practically every attack nd then having a lot of health replenishing moves were great. Nicholas also really liked Feraligatr because of his amazing stamina and very strong moves. Nicholas knew that one day he would beat all eight gyms and stand at the Sinnoh League and challenge it. Sinnoh has had the same members of the Elite Four for several years. Aaron was the first one, with his bug types. Bertha was still at number two with her ground types. Flint was holding his spot at number three with his fire types. And Lucian was keeping his number four position with only the Champion after him with his Physic types.

With the wood that Charlie brought back they started a fire. Like Robert had said the wet wood would burn, but it took much longer to light. It needed both Charmander and Charlie's Chimchar holding their tails next to the wood for it to heat up to light. Then it had to have Tepig and Fennekin lightly blow embers on to it. But they were all still cold. While they were getting warm Nicholas held Charmander close to him. The little fire type fell asleep quickly in his arms. Nicholas really like holding him. Nicholas knew that one day he wouldn't fit in his arms anymore. But he would enjoy this time now. He knew that it was important to have a very good foundation and friendship with his Pokemon while they were still young. They would need to establish a trust and strong bond.

Some of Nicholas's dream Pokemon were Elekid, Gible, and Pancham. He liked those three and would want to get them someday for his team. Their types would help and so would their strength. When the rain was done Nicholas had planned to go out and train with his Pokemon. He was just itching to go out and start getting ready for any challenging trainer or his first Gym Battle. They would surely reach Sandgem Town the next day and there were bond to be trainers there. Nicholas still felt sour about his loss to Sara. He was going to make sure that he beat her the next time. Nicholas had been thinking of some strategies for his battling style. He had heard that trainers would often go thru a period where they experimented with all different types of battling and found the one they liked best. Nicholas felt that he would like a hit hard and lots of strong offense.

As the rain continued to fall outside Nicholas remembered the years prior to starting out on his journey. He and Sara had often gathered at one another house's to watch Pokemon battles. Usually big competitions or festivals. Some of their favorites were the Sinnoh Pokemon League Championships, Jubilife City Battle Competition, Hearthome City Battle Festival, Snowpoint City Battle Tournament, Sunnyshore City Showdown, and Crown City Battle Mania. Between the two of them they had tapes of the past five for each of them. Nicholas's all time favorite was the Sinnoh League Championships. It had the strongest trainers who had defeated all eight gyms of the Sinnoh region and sometimes it had members of the Elite Four challenging the Champion Cynthia. The most recent person to challenge her had been Lucian, but he lost, of course. No one could beat Cynthia. Flint and Aaron were also members of the Elite Four and challenged Cynthia too, but Lucian did it the most. Only Bertha of the Elite Four hadn't challenged Cynthia. Out of the four of them Flint was Nicholas favorite. He had such an awesome fire type team.

Nicholas remembered when he and Sara were nine. Their parents had taken them to Jubilife City to watch the battle competition. It had been one of his best days, they had gone out for ice cream and got to sit fairly close to the battle field to watch all the action. He also remembered the winner. It had been a girl from Canalave City and she had used an Eevee, Houndour, Absol, and a Pawniard. Nicholas couldn't remember her name but she had won out of 71 other trainers.

Nicholas didn't feel worried about being out in the storm. He actually liked it. He had been surprised when the rest of the group agreed to travel in it. Usually Arilla was uptight about possibly dangerous things. She hardly even let Nicholas cook by himself in the kitchen. Now they were out in a storm taking shelter in a crack between two rocks.

Charmander's tail created a pulsing light generated heat too. Nicholas was careful not to sit to close to the entrance where they had set up a claw shaped tarp. He knew that if Charmander's tail went out he would need immediate medical attention and they were not close to a Pokemon Center. The thunder was at a close, Nicholas was sure of it. The rain was still coming down but it had lessened with the end of the thunder. He wanted to go out with the others and set up the tent so they could get out of this little crevice. It was damp and cold inside of it and Nicholas was sitting in an uncomfortable position.

"Can we set up the tent now?" Nicholas asked. Robert looked up at him, he had been stoking his Tepig's head. Nicholas saw Arilla look up from her book and then glance outside. Charlie had already been looking out at the storm.

"Anyone opposed?" Robert asked them. No one said anything. "Okay I guess so then. I grab the stakes and hammer. Nicholas you can get the polls and Charlie there is a tarp next to my backpack, if you could grab it and come with me to set the stakes. Arilla the tent itself has two parts. The one we will sleep in and then the outside cover shield."

Nicholas recalled Charmander to his Pokeball and synched up his raincoat. He made sure his hood was tight and the pockets were not unzipped. Nicholas then went over to the the tent bag and found the sack that held the polls to hold the tent up. Once Nicholas had fit all the poles into their sockets he strung them through the tent. Nicholas worked with Arilla to get the tent standing after Charlie had put the tarp underneath it. The rain was still coming down on them, thankfully they kept all the zippers on the tent zipped shut to prevent any rain from seeping in. Charlie and Robert worked to make sure the tarp was secure before hammering down the stakes of the tent. The two of them got the stakes in fairly quickly while Nicholas and Arilla held the tent up off the ground. Then they all helped to string the poles through the slips.

Once the whole tent was set up with the stakes in and the second tarp over the tent they all went inside. There was a small in between section where they places the shoes and inside they each took off their rain wear and bundled up into warmer clothing. Nicholas pulled out his sweatpants and put on two pairs of socks then he slipped into his sleeping bag. He saw Arilla pull out a couple blankets and wrapped up in them and laid down on top of her sleeping bag. Robert and Charlie seemed fine just with their warm clothing. Nicholas laid in his sleeping bag with is eyes closed and listening to the sounds of the rain.

He began to wonder what was taking Sara so long. She should have captured that Dratini by now, or it should have fled from battle. Nicholas had a small prickle of fear in his stomach. It had first appeared when Charlie returned alone, it was a sharp jab. Then once the situation was explained the fear went away. Now it was growing again, slowly. Nicholas didn't want himself to be worrying over this. He knew that Sara was much older now. It wasn't anywhere near the last time when she hadn't returned. Though that was a long time ago.

Nicholas began to fantasize about his future battles. He planned to train with his team in the morning. His first Gym Battle would be in either Canalave City or Oreburgh City. It depended on which way they went in Jubilife City. West or East. Nicholas knew Canalave's Gym was a steel type and Oreburgh's was a rock type. His current three Pokemon were at a decent type advantage over both Gyms. Rock was weak against Grass and Water among other types. Steel was weak against Fire and a couple others. Nicholas had made a goal to obtain another Pokemon or two before challenging either Gym. Preferably one who had no weakness to either. Nicholas started to nod off as he mauled over his thoughts on Gym Battles. Next then he knew he was actually in a Gym, and he was going against a challenger. This trainer was strong, she had great control over her team. Nicholas was battling well too. This was a full five on five battle, and it most likely was this female trainer's eighth Gym. In the Sinnoh region worked where the first four Gym's you challenged used three Pokemon. The next three Gym Leaders used four Pokemon, and lastly the eighth Gym Leader used five Pokemon. The Elite Four worked in a similar manner. They used six Pokemon and the Champion used all ten in their party.

Nicholas had dreams of his aspiring to be a Gym Leader. Currently he was considering even being an Elite Four member and even the Champion. To become a Gym Leader you first had to win all eight Gym Badges and enter the Sinnoh League. Then you had to go against the Elite Four, you were only required to beat one of the four. If you did that then you were free to challenge any current Gym Leader to their position. If you did you used ten Pokemon each. The same worked for the Elite Four, you had to beat all of them and then go against the Champion. If you lost you could return later to challenge the first member's place. If you won you became the first Elite Four member (the first one any challenger faces) and you had to select one type to stick with. Nicholas had never been able to narrow down his one specific type to use. He liked Electric types, Fighting types, and a few others.

He dreamed of competing in the Jubilife City Battle Competition, it was coming up soon. He wanted to enter it with Sara as his teammate. Nicholas knew that the form was a tag battle this time, they alternate it between single entries and double entries. Nicholas would use the experience from the competition to help him succeed in his Gym Battle. He and Sara would have to spend sometime training with each other, they could go against Robert, or Charlie, or Arilla to fit the tag team format. Nicholas began to wonder what Charlie's Pokemon were. He had seen his Bayleef that morning. He was curious to know what others he had. The sounds of rain gently lulled him out of his thoughts and into a deep sleep. He needed it. The night before he had been up packing all of his items into his backpack for his journey.

Nicholas slept for quite sometime. During his slumber the rain began to decrease into a light drizzle. The ground was completely soaked with water. The dirt and grass couldn't hold any more, it began to make puddles. The earth acted like a giant sponge, but even a sponge has its limit on how much it can absorb. At least the trees, bushes, and other planets would be well watered. Perhaps a little too well watered. If this heavy rain continued to move East it would surely reach Mt. Coronet. That would create lots of snow on the mountain side. It wasn't any where near cold enough to have snow in this area of Sinnoh. Only cities and towns in the far north would have a chance of snow.

Outside of their tent the rain had fully come to an end. The clouds were slowly clearing away and the sunlight would soon filter down between them. The plants still dripped, heavy with water, onto the soil below them. The dripping water created a soothing sight. Some water droplets rolled down from the highest leafs on the trees cascading all the way down to the forest floor below them. They made their own waterfall as they slipped from leaf to leaf. The sun had only a few needle points of light that had reached down to the surface of the water logged planet. The little spots of light reflected beautifully off of the droplets. A flower with several beads of water gave off a dazzling rainbow of colors. Slowly one drop slid down from the center of the petal. It eased it's way down the white petal. When it reached the pink tip it hesitated before going over the edge and falling. The small droplet fell to the ground and landed with a minor splash. It melded into the puddle with a tiny ripple.

Scattered along the forest floor were many dens, burrows, and homes of Pokemon. Some of them slept soundly while others were wide awake. A bunch of Wurmples were all curled up in their den. Surrounding them were a few Silcoon and resting peacfully next to them were a few Beautifily. In a hollow bush held a small den filled with a couple Delcattys and several Skitys. A small herd of Stantler also made their home among the trees and bushes. High up in the tree tops a flock of Pidgeot made their nest with a small amount of Pidgeys and Pidgeottos. A little lower to the ground a Noctowl had a nest in the hollowed trunk of a tree. Also within the trees were some Nuzleafs and Seedots. Deep in a burrow under the ground a family of Raichus, Pikachus, and Pichus slept sweetly.

The storm subsided completely, the rain had passed and so had the clouds. The sunlight had made its way down to the earth below. As time went by the ground slowly began to absorb the water. It soaked it up like a sponge, but at a Slowpoke's pace. The sleeping forest Pokemon did not rise from their dens, they continued on as if it had been peaceful weather all along. Nicholas's dream began to change.

Instead of dreaming of tag battles Nicholas dreamed of the past. It was sunny outside of his house in Twinleaf Town. He had finished cleaning his room and his mother had allowed him to go over to Sara's house to play. His mother forced him to don on a rain jacket, it was starting to sprinkle outside. Nicholas ran to her house and he knocked on the door. Sara's mother opened the door and he rushed inside. He flicked water droplets all over her as he pulled off his rain jacket. He reached up to place it on the hook but his six year old legs were too short. Sara's mom took his jacket for him. She smiled at him and told him where Sara was. He kicked off his shoes and placed them next to the front door but the coat hook.

Nicholas hurried up the stairs to her bedroom. He turned the knob on her door and flung himself into the room. He closed the door behind him and he looked at her. Nicholas jumped to the center of her room and shot out his hand.

"Go Pokémon! I choose you!" Nicholas cried.

"Trainer battle go!" Sara called out as she pushed her hand out.

The two of them met in the middle and high fived proudly. Nicholas chased her around her room and Sara giggled uncontrollably. She jumped onto her bed and Nicholas followed. The two of them jumped all around until they could jump no more and flopped down on her bed.

They laughed even though their lungs were tired. Nicholas could tell his face was red with all of their jumping and laughter. He gasped for a breath and Sara looked over at her clock, it had an Eevee alarm on it.

"Oh! Look Nicholas, it's almost time for the Sinnoh League Championship!" She exclaimed.

"Quickly! Get the TV on!" He said excitedly.

They turned it on just in time. Volkner was standing in the center of the arena with a microphone in his hand. He was dressed in his traditional black pants and blue jacket. The crowd was huge, every seat with filled, there was no blank space insight if you didn't count the stair ways. The camera panned to show outside of the arena. There were rows of concessions and booths were vendors were selling their merchandise. They had the giant flat screen outside of the arena were the people outside of the arena could watch. The camera went back to Volkner, who is the Sunnyshore City Gym Leader, he was an Electric type trainer.

"Welcome!" He said to the crowd. They were so loud it was difficult to hear him. His Luxray stood beside him and he said a command to his Pokémon and Luxray shot a beam of electricity up into the air. The arena had an open roof. The display of an attack quieted the crowed down. "Thank you." He said once they were quiet. "Welcome, to the Sinnoh League Championship " He said, his voice grew louder to the last three words. "Now I can tell you are all excited to get this battle competition underway. We have trainers from all over the Sinnoh region here to compete. We even have a trainer from the Hoenn region and another from the Kanto region too. All of these trainers have earned all eight badges from his region." Volkner said starting with the introduction. "Each trainer is a single entry with six Pokémon each. When all six on one side are unable to continue the battle is over. Each rounds trainers are eliminated until we have only one standing, that trainer will be the winner." He explained. The crowed cheered again. "Without any further waiting, let's begin!" He called out. He let out all of his Pokémon. The six of them all shot their electricity into one large beam and blasted it into the sky. "The Sinnoh League Championship is underway!" Volkner shouted into the microphone.

With his jubilant sound off the first battle began. Nicholas watched the screen eagerly with Sara. The first battle started with a female trainer going against a younger male. Their first Pokémon was a Lopunny and a Braivery. The first battle ended swiftly with the male trainer winning by a few yards. The next few battles all seemed to be one sided with trainers winning easily over their opponents. Sara's mome came upstairs a little after the tenth battle had finished. She brought them lunch to eat, she was well aware she could need a miracle to pry the two of them away from the TV when a battle was on. Both of their moms were fine with the two of them watching the TV so intently, they didn't spend endless hours on it. The battle events were the only times they watched TV. Occasionally the news too, but only when their parents happened to be watching it.

Nicholas sipped his milk and ate some of the salad. His soup was a bit too hot to eat right away. He munched on the green leafs and nibbled on the berries. One was sweet and the other had a tangy taste. The eleventh battle raged on with no end in sight. But one side began to dip under, they had both been putting up a great fight but now it became a test of who could hold it longer. They were both down to their last Pokémon, an Arbok and a Staraphtor. The latter ended up winning and moving on to the next round.

A few more battles carried on before a very intense one began. It was between two guys, who seemed to know each other before this battle. The younger boy was the one from the Kanto region. He had a Pikachu perched on his shoulder. He wore blue pants and a white t-shirt with a black vest which had a yellow V stripe on it. He also wore a hat. The other boy seemed to be a few years older and was from the Sinnoh region. He had dark greyish purple colored hair which seemed faint. Their battle was by far the best one Nicholas had seen. It was a 10/10 exhilarating battle. It inspired Nicholas to one day amount to a battle like that. The Infernape had defeated the Electavire. Nicholas often thought that it was such a shame that Infernape's trainer went on to the next room and lost poorly. What a pity it was.

The two of them watched the rest of the battles while they finished their lunch. After the twentieth battle there was a half hour break. The TV screen flashed numerous ads for items and other things. Nicholas never paid any attention to them. He and Sara played more in her room. They pretended that her plush dolls were real and they would have pretend battles and adventures.

Before the competition resumed they brought their trays from lunch back downstairs. Nicholas was walking down the stairs when Sara froze in front of him. Her mother was having a heated conversation on the phone. Nicholas didn't know who it was with but Sara looked sad. The two of them snuck into the kitchen so that her mom wouldn't see them from the living room. They hurried back up the stairs to her room, Sara closed the door behind them and sank to the floor.

"What's wrong?" Nicholas asked her. The competition was back on and it was running a review of the past battles and who was moving on so far.

"She does that often. It's my dad on the phone with her." Sara said with a sniffle.

"That's okay, I'm here." He said and wrapped his arms around her. Nicholas moved her large bean bag over to the TV and put some pillows on it. Together they sat on it and watched the section portion of the battles. Soon after they were both cheering for their favorite trainers. They both had smiles on their faces as they watched.

Nicholas woke from his dream with a start. The happy memory from his dream was fast vanishing with every heartbeat. He quickly scanned the tent, Sara wasn't there. He looked to his right to see Robert, Arilla, and Charlie.

"Charlie." Nicholas said in a low voice. "Where is she?" He asked. He was sitting upright in his sleeping bag.

"Where's who?" Charlie asked, puzzled. "Oh you mean Sara," he added quickly. "I would assume she is still out in the woods." Charlie finished.

Robert's brown eyes were focused on Nicholas. He did not look forward to what was going to happen between them. Nicholas noticed and saw that he stayed quiet though, Arilla too.

"And why, Charlie, dis guy leave her out there?" Nicholas asked. He was not happy anymore. He rose slowly from his slumber.

Charlie, who either didn't notice Nicholas's tone or thought nothing of it answered with "Nicholas, I told you earlier. She went off to catch a Dratini."

"And have you noticed she's not back yet?" Nicholas asked harshly.

"Yes, I have."

Robert finally spoke. "Nicholas, I can see that you are concerned, and that's reasonable. But Sara is fully capable of taking care of herself." He said in a calm mellow voice. Nicholas was restless. He started to put his coat on.

"And where do you are going?" Arilla asked sternly.

"To find her. It would seem I am the only one who cares about her." Nicholas replied.

"That's not true." Charlie said.

Before Nicholas could harp on him Robert spoke. "Why do think it would do any good for you to go wandering through the woods? It hasn't been more then a couple of hours and the storm has passed. Sara is with her Pokémon and in an area where she has grown up in."

Arilla watched him put his coat back down and return to where he slept. "Sara is smart, resourceful, and is proba my on her way back down from taking shelter under a tree or in a cave or something else of the sort." She informed him. "And that was a wicked thing to say that we don't care for her." Arilla added hotly.

"I'm sorry." Nicholas said to them. Arilla smiled and turned back to her book and Robert nodded.

"It's fine Cole." Charlie said.

"Cole?" Nicholas asked.

"Yeah, Cole. I think it could be your nickname. You remind me of the coals that burn brightly and hotly underneath a flame." Charlie explained. He spoke genuinely. Nicholas didn't day anything, he didn't glare at him either, he just reflected on the name Cole.

Nicholas moved to the opening of the tent and unzipped a small part of it. He peered outside and saw the sun shinning down. The plants still dripped with water and the ground looked a little soggy. When the ground was a bit more dry he decided he would go outside and train with his three Pokémon. He zipped the tent back up and laid back down. He would like to catch or somehow obtain another one. His gaze moved to the large collection of eggs.

He was able to recall all of the possible outcomes. There were possibilities of Snivys, Turtwigs, Treekos, Charmanders, Torchics, and Eevees. There weren't any Fennekin options left, that man at the lake had purchased the two that could either be Torchics or Fennekins. The Phanpy had been had to pay for one. Now Arilla had Fennekin, Oshawott, Snivy, and Phanpy. Sara had Torchic, Froakie, Treeko, Shinx, Eevee, and maybe even a Dratini too. Which left Nicholas and Robert with only three each. Now he was really eager to get more. He still didn't know how many Charlie had, other then Bayleef, Chimchar, and Prinplup.

Out of all the six different outcomes from the eggs Nicholas didn't really have any interest in them. He already had a Turtwig and Charmander and he had no taste for Snivys. Treekos and Torchics were cool and Eevee was alright but he didn't want any of them. Nicholas didn't dwell too long on the choices before falling asleep once more. He dreamed more of his childhood in Twinleaf town and yearned for the days to come.


End file.
